WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.120 Please turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter 6, passage that was read for us, page 556, if you're following in the Black Church Bible. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:28.080 When I was a good deal younger than I am now, I had this thing that I would do with my cousin, where if we were enjoying ourselves together, and it could have been a meal in a restaurant or a cold drink on a hot day or something, something pleasurable, we would say, 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:46.679 hmm, this, this is living. The sense was, if we had this experience all the time, well, that would be the good life. We were convinced that verse 2 was what made life worth living. 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:59.579 Chapter 6, verse 2, wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires. If we could have this all the time, this is living. 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:11.120 And those are the elements, aren't they? Wealth, possessions, and honor, lacking nothing that we desire. Those are the elements of the good life that is held out to us in Western culture today. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:18.200 This is living. You'll be able to say that if you're prosperous, comfortable, and respected. 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:27.939 Then, of course, if you come from a less individualistic culture than the West, you might define the good life more along the lines of verse 3. Have a look. Verse 3. 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:35.980 A man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many. 00:01:36.679 --> 00:01:43.979 You're not so worried about having all the stuff. For you, it's a large family and many years to enjoy them. This is living. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:53.099 All of our visions of the good life include some or all of these things, whether it's the first or the second list. 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:56.419 And they're not bad in themselves. They're good things. 00:01:57.199 --> 00:02:05.140 But what we discover this evening is that these things will not, they cannot deliver the good life. 00:02:05.699 --> 00:02:08.680 We need something more. They're not enough. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:15.539 Wealth, possessions, honor, so that you don't lack anything that you set your eyes on. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:17.819 You actually need more than that. 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:26.060 As he's been doing from the start of this book, Solomon is forcing us to look hard at the world the way it really is. 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:28.900 He's shaking us out of our fantasy. 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:32.359 He wants us to be honest about what it is that we see there. 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:37.079 He wants us to stop pretending that there is gain, there is profit in the world 00:02:37.079 --> 00:02:40.780 when we build our lives on the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, and wisdom. 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:44.719 And he wants us to admit that it's all vapor. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:47.560 It's all thin air. 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:51.580 Solomon's book is wisdom literature. 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:56.120 So it's designed to form our mind in a biblical way. 00:02:56.219 --> 00:02:59.599 That means it helps us see that there aren't simple answers to life's complexities. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.599 Wisdom literature doesn't view the world in black and white. 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:06.020 We would love it if it did that. 00:03:06.079 --> 00:03:08.819 If the Bible worked like that, we would be much happier 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:13.919 because we long for simple answers to the difficult issues that life throws at us. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.280 But life isn't easy. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:17.459 We live in a cursed world. 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:20.819 A world where we're often perplexed by what God is doing. 00:03:21.339 --> 00:03:26.599 A world where even as Christians, in relationship with the living God, we find ourselves confused. 00:03:27.399 --> 00:03:32.699 And a simple do this, follow these simple steps and get the outcome you desire, it doesn't work. 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:33.500 We know that. 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:43.340 And Solomon has already told us that if we make wisdom an end, even wisdom an end in itself, it won't help us either. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.780 Because wisdom isn't something that we can make an end of in itself. 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.439 You can't pull wisdom off the shelf. 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:51.840 It doesn't work that way. 00:03:51.900 --> 00:03:52.780 It takes time. 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:58.520 It involves skill and contemplation and discernment and prayer. 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.139 Wisdom flows from experience. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:04.280 And you can't find those things on Google. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.740 But wisdom can be passed on. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:17.360 And Solomon is doing that here particularly in Ecclesiastes as a whole, but specifically this evening. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.600 He's passing on wisdom about the good life. 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:25.819 And in particular, he's telling us that the wise person recognizes two things. 00:04:26.340 --> 00:04:27.300 Two points this evening. 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:34.220 The wise person recognizes, first of all, prosperity is not necessarily good. 00:04:35.699 --> 00:04:37.780 Prosperity is not necessarily good. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:40.620 Chapter 6, verses 1 to 9. 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:43.180 Now at the end of chapter 5, you just look up. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.819 At the end of chapter 5, we're told that God gives two gifts. 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:55.159 It's everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil. 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.040 This is the gift of God. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:01.779 He gives the gifts and he gives the ability to enjoy the gifts. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:08.519 And what Solomon goes on to describe in chapter 6 is what happens if someone has only been given the first of these. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:14.439 And Solomon calls it, chapter 6, verse 1, an evil or literally a tragedy. 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:20.519 Verse 1, there is a tragedy that I have seen under the sun and it lies heavy on mankind. 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:25.899 A man to whom God gives wealth, possessions and honor so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires. 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:29.180 Yet God does not give him power to enjoy them. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:31.120 But a stranger enjoys them. 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:32.319 This is vanity. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:33.920 A grievous evil. 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:35.000 A grievous tragedy. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.980 God's world is a stunning place. 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:47.519 He has given us mountains and rivers and paintings and literature and music. 00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:51.279 He has spread the table with smells and tastes. 00:05:51.639 --> 00:05:52.319 Take your pick. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:53.519 Steak. 00:05:53.899 --> 00:05:54.399 Meatballs. 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:55.740 Cured ham. 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:57.379 Stilton cheese. 00:05:57.800 --> 00:05:59.199 Scotch bonnet chilies. 00:05:59.699 --> 00:06:01.139 Sun-dried tomato pesto. 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:01.980 Peanut butter. 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:02.620 Wine. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:03.420 Guinness. 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:03.900 Cuisher. 00:06:03.900 --> 00:06:04.460 Mangoes. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.080 All gifts from his generous hand. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:15.840 But without the divine gift of enjoyment to accompany those things, they're all cold porridge. 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.400 Somebody here probably likes cold porridge. 00:06:20.819 --> 00:06:24.080 It was the one thing that I thought most of us won't like. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:31.400 One of my fears during COVID was that thing where people lost their sense of taste. 00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:35.299 Thankfully, I didn't get it, but I knew some people who did. 00:06:35.539 --> 00:06:43.079 And they described how eating, maybe you got that, how eating became joyless, even unpleasant because of the way your tastes changed. 00:06:43.679 --> 00:06:49.819 That is what prosperity is like without the gift of being able to enjoy the things that prosperity affords us. 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:53.959 You can lack nothing that you desire. 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:56.040 Here it is. 00:06:56.379 --> 00:06:57.360 Here it is. 00:06:57.800 --> 00:06:58.439 Have another one. 00:06:58.560 --> 00:06:59.079 Have ten. 00:06:59.180 --> 00:06:59.680 Have a hundred. 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:01.659 But there's no lasting joy. 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:09.500 No lasting pleasure because the stuff in itself isn't enough if God has not given the gift of enjoyment. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:13.920 Solomon presses the point further. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:14.360 Here verse 3. 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:28.060 If a man fathers a hundred children, lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:35.399 A man could have a hundred children and live, verse 6, two thousand years. 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:39.420 Children and long life are Old Testament pictures of prosperity and blessing. 00:07:39.780 --> 00:07:45.939 However, without the ability to enjoy them, the man, Solomon says, would have been better being stillborn. 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:53.899 If there's no satisfaction in the blessing, then what's the point of the blessing? 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:58.879 What is the point of the years spent being dissatisfied? 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:02.939 It's an arresting image, isn't it? 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:04.399 Stillborn child. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:10.620 He's saying, if life is a restless, grievous, dissatisfying treadmill, verse 7, that's the image there. 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.980 And the stillborn baby didn't have any of that anxiety or pain. 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:17.819 And they were at rest with the Lord all along, he says. 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:24.020 They were better off than a prosperous person who lives two thousand years twice over. 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:25.680 It's a way of saying forever. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.120 Better off than the person who lives forever. 00:08:30.259 --> 00:08:36.840 Wisdom dictates that we recognize that wealth is not an automatic sign of God's blessing in our lives. 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:43.639 Because as the Lord Jesus told us, the good life doesn't consist in the abundance of things. 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:51.340 Jesus said this for the simple reason that apart from God, there is no good in those things themselves. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:58.379 And we've seen this countless times over and over again with celebrities and wealthy, famous people. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.960 I remember some years ago listening to George Best. 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:06.320 George Best was probably the first megastar sports person, certainly in Britain. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:10.860 A hugely kind of famous, successful footballer. 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:14.480 I remember listening to him reflecting on his life, talking about fame and success. 00:09:15.020 --> 00:09:20.280 He said he built his dream home exactly to his specifications and he never really lived in it. 00:09:20.780 --> 00:09:21.379 Didn't like it. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.280 He had whatever he wanted at his disposal and it left him feeling empty. 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:31.559 He spoke about how he dated numerous Miss Worlds and how he got bored with beautiful women. 00:09:33.079 --> 00:09:37.179 He'd been given the prosperity without the divine gift to enjoy it. 00:09:39.079 --> 00:09:41.120 I mentioned Matthew Perry a few weeks ago. 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:42.799 Chandler from Friends. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.179 He lacked nothing he desired. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:49.100 But all that he did, all that that did for him was leave him anxious and empty. 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:56.180 And he needed to numb the ache in his soul so much that he died a broken and pathetic addict. 00:09:57.540 --> 00:09:59.139 And the list goes on and on and on and on. 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:03.340 But we know it's not just those at the top who experience this, is it? 00:10:03.420 --> 00:10:10.600 We know what it's like to aim for something and then to get that thing only to discover that there's no lasting joy. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.360 I've seen my peers who took a different course in life. 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:21.940 They've made a lot of money and the rising standard of living means that special things become normal things. 00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:25.039 And therefore then they lose their appeal. 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:34.580 There's no joy in the meal or the glass of fine wine because they're just ordinary sustenance now. 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:39.039 That same cousin I told you about at the start, I met him last year. 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:39.659 He lives in Australia. 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:40.779 He's a successful lawyer. 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:44.879 I met him for lunch in London last year. 00:10:45.299 --> 00:10:48.339 And during the lunch, I was appreciating it. 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:49.299 It was on him. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:54.899 And I said, this, this is living. 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:57.699 And I could tell he was bored by it. 00:10:57.939 --> 00:10:59.360 Because he has that all the time. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:05.259 But it's also true that we know the positive side of this. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:11.080 The thrill of simple things that have been accompanied by the blessing of God to enjoy them. 00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:18.500 The way that a child's painting brings more joy than owning a Picasso would. 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:23.200 The way we see the poor child with only a stick to play with. 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:25.500 Who runs around shooting his enemies. 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:28.559 And laughing at his imaginary world. 00:11:28.659 --> 00:11:33.019 And how he is better off than the spoiled child with a room full of toys who can only huff. 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:35.399 Because one of those toys isn't the newest. 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:36.799 We've seen that. 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:39.399 Here's the thing. 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:44.799 Don't think that being more prosperous will automatically deliver the good life. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:48.719 The joy that keeps eluding you. 00:11:48.819 --> 00:11:49.179 Verse 9. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.599 The wandering appetite is never satisfied. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.139 Instead, Solomon says, enjoy the sight of your eyes. 00:11:55.219 --> 00:11:55.719 Verse 9. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.319 That is, enjoy what's in front of you. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:01.159 Enjoy what he called in chapter 5, your lot. 00:12:01.439 --> 00:12:02.779 What God has given to you. 00:12:02.859 --> 00:12:03.959 And don't waste your time. 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:04.639 Verse 11. 00:12:05.439 --> 00:12:07.639 Just talking about why things are the way they are. 00:12:08.359 --> 00:12:13.359 Don't waste your time with a, why has God made things this way seminar or podcast. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:18.939 That's just more vapor, he says. 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:19.839 Verse 11. 00:12:20.319 --> 00:12:21.979 The more words, the more vanity. 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:24.039 And what is the advantage to man? 00:12:27.079 --> 00:12:32.000 But it is realizing this that opens the door to a solution. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.539 You see, the obvious question at this point. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.899 I think the obvious question at this point is, okay, all right, I get it. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:39.859 Prosperity is not necessarily good. 00:12:39.939 --> 00:12:41.899 But how do I get the gift of enjoyment? 00:12:41.899 --> 00:12:46.899 Well, the answer is there in verse 3. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.980 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:56.079 but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things. 00:12:57.059 --> 00:12:59.620 His soul is not satisfied with good things. 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:03.600 Literally, that translates, his soul has not seen the good. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:09.139 Now, that's not a reference to seeing the good in the thing. 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:15.040 When it says there, satisfied with life's good things, the thing has been added in our English translation. 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:17.320 His soul has not seen the good. 00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:24.600 It's about discerning the good in what God is doing in frustrating our ability to be satisfied apart from him. 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:29.800 To think that the good life is possessions, wealth, and honor. 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:34.500 See, because of our sin, God has laid a curse on the world. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:39.079 And that means that creation simply will not yield enjoyment. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:46.519 Unless that is we see that God is doing this and we turn in fear to him. 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:49.740 That's been a thread all the way through the book. 00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:56.299 When we accept that the world is the way it is, under the hand of God. 00:13:56.980 --> 00:14:00.539 And we accept that he is working his good purposes out. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.820 And then we turn ourselves over to him in repentance and faith. 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:06.820 Our soul has seen the good. 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:13.539 And what that does is enables us to see that everything that we have is gift. 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:15.519 And we're thankful. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:25.899 In short, when we see that the material things are gift, not something we can grasp after, not something we can gain for ourselves. 00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:28.559 When we see that they are gift, it makes us thankful. 00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:31.500 And thankful people enjoy what they have. 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:36.600 Prosperity is not necessarily good. 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:43.659 But when it is met with thankfulness and faith in the God who gives, it unlocks all manner of joy. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.500 One author says, 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:54.399 The Lord gives a can of peaches to an unbeliever and a believer alike. 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:57.299 One can only lick the label. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:00.360 The other gets the can opener thrown in. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.699 Thankfulness is what unlocks the gift of enjoyment. 00:15:10.939 --> 00:15:14.100 Solomon then now turns to make a contrast to that first point. 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:16.879 And he does this with his favorite genre, Proverbs. 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:26.000 So, if prosperity is not necessarily good, wisdom also dictates that secondly, adversity is not necessarily bad. 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:28.960 Chapter 7, 1 to 10. 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:37.420 Now, there is a growing trend in our culture that adversity is a good thing. 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:40.199 We should stand up straight. 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:41.199 Take it on the chin. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:42.120 Hurt is good. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.479 If you know who David Goggins is, that's his story. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:45.059 Okay? 00:15:45.339 --> 00:15:47.399 The more painful it is, the better it is for you. 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:48.559 Adversity is a good thing. 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:50.860 That's not quite what Solomon is saying. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:53.159 He ends chapter 6. 00:15:53.199 --> 00:15:54.559 Do you see verse 12 of the question? 00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:01.619 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? 00:16:02.439 --> 00:16:05.579 For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? 00:16:05.939 --> 00:16:08.219 Who knows what is good for man? 00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:10.779 Well, Solomon answers the question. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:12.679 Chapter 7, verse 11. 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:14.019 Wisdom is good. 00:16:14.839 --> 00:16:15.939 Chapter 7, verse 12. 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:18.819 Wisdom preserves the life of man who has it. 00:16:18.820 --> 00:16:26.840 And these proverbs open us up to wisdom by highlighting for us a series of relative goods. 00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:30.640 Certain things are good, but certain other things are better. 00:16:30.820 --> 00:16:33.000 Learn these lessons and you will be wise. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:40.200 And the backdrop for Solomon's list is the experience of adversity under the sun that we live through. 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:43.960 This is such an alien idea to us. 00:16:44.660 --> 00:16:46.640 We want life to be comfortable. 00:16:47.140 --> 00:16:48.720 We want it to be easy. 00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:53.379 And we think that if it isn't comfortable and easy, it can't be from God's good hand. 00:16:54.160 --> 00:16:55.340 We start to get frustrated. 00:16:56.400 --> 00:17:02.240 We start to maybe not say it out loud, but we start to get frustrated with God. 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:04.420 We begin to despise his providence. 00:17:04.539 --> 00:17:06.340 But these verses teach us the opposite. 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:11.480 They speak positively of death, rebuke, and being patient. 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:22.099 So, first thing, thinking about adversity and how it can be good, death is a better teacher than birth. 00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:23.980 Verse 1. 00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:29.559 Having a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of birth. 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:34.079 Having a good name matters. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:37.419 It matters more than whether you use expensive cologne. 00:17:37.419 --> 00:17:42.179 If you smell good, but when your name comes up in company, it stinks the place out. 00:17:42.399 --> 00:17:43.179 That's a problem. 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:45.740 That's what he's saying in verse 1. 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:46.799 Now, we understand that. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:48.099 We understand the comparison. 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:50.620 Integrity and character matter. 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:55.400 But the second half of the verse, well, it seems to take a bit of a darker turn, doesn't it? 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:56.839 He's saying, 00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:04.839 How on earth can that be right? 00:18:06.679 --> 00:18:09.419 Surely the day a child is born is a day of immense joy. 00:18:09.939 --> 00:18:12.079 It's a day of excitement and potential. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:14.939 It's not that way when someone dies. 00:18:17.879 --> 00:18:19.839 Remember I said these are relative statements. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.740 Solomon is not saying that death is good and birth is bad. 00:18:23.399 --> 00:18:25.759 Nor is he saying that choosing death is wise. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:30.079 Just as precious ointment is good, but a good name is better. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:32.000 So birth is good. 00:18:32.099 --> 00:18:32.799 It's wonderful. 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:39.599 But there is a sense in which death is better because of what it teaches us. 00:18:40.859 --> 00:18:43.519 That's why Solomon takes us, verse 2, to the house of the morning. 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:48.400 Death isn't the teacher of the dead person. 00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:49.299 They're dead. 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.599 Death teaches those who are left behind. 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:58.240 And the wise among us will take those lessons, lay what it teaches, to heart, verse 2. 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:03.779 When you go to a house of mourning, what do you learn? 00:19:04.639 --> 00:19:07.199 Well, you're reminded again that death is coming. 00:19:07.879 --> 00:19:09.019 It's coming to all of us. 00:19:09.439 --> 00:19:13.240 Death relativizes everything else and shapes how we live in the present. 00:19:14.339 --> 00:19:17.179 Death gives us perspective on what really matters in life. 00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:21.259 Death causes us to accept our own fragility. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.900 There's none of that on a maternity ward. 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:29.100 People are serious at funerals. 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:33.840 Mourners tend to talk more, or they should talk more, about real issues. 00:19:34.580 --> 00:19:37.779 Turning a funeral into a celebration, some people try and do this. 00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:40.240 That's a mistake because of verse 3. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.339 Sorrow is better than laughter in that context. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.559 And it's better because in our sadness we are led to the kind of wisdom that Solomon is talking about here. 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:51.559 We get a deeper grasp of reality. 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:58.799 And we pray with the psalmist, teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:09.419 Death is a better teacher than birth because it grounds us in reality and causes us to ponder how we might live well in light of it. 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:15.940 Death is a better teacher than birth. 00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:20.200 Verse 5, rebuke is better than empty praise. 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:24.680 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:28.740 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools. 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:30.779 This also is vanity. 00:20:31.500 --> 00:20:33.019 It's another kind of adversity. 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:35.000 When someone corrects you. 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:37.279 When someone tells you you've got something wrong. 00:20:38.759 --> 00:20:39.840 None of us love that. 00:20:40.340 --> 00:20:43.880 None of us say, I want to sign up for a bit of rebuke. 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:50.860 But when it comes our way from the lips of the wise, it is a gift. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:57.040 And it is far more beneficial to us than the cheerleading of yes men and fools. 00:20:58.520 --> 00:20:59.460 Thorns and brambles. 00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:05.400 They're not usually used for kindling under a pot because while they pop and crackle, they don't produce much heat. 00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:07.100 They aren't actually really much use. 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:10.120 That's the reason that Solomon uses the image here. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:11.820 So it is with the flatterer. 00:21:11.819 --> 00:21:16.779 And someone says, oh, you are very good at whatever. 00:21:17.399 --> 00:21:18.879 That thing you did, that was excellent. 00:21:18.939 --> 00:21:20.439 That was the best I've ever seen. 00:21:20.639 --> 00:21:22.039 That was the best I've ever heard. 00:21:22.639 --> 00:21:25.079 You're the best whatever it is that I've ever come across. 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:26.319 Always praising you. 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:28.240 Always laughing at your jokes. 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.179 If you surround yourself with people like this, you're a fool, Solomon says. 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:39.299 If your spouse is a cheerleader, your marriage is nowhere near as healthy as it should be or it could be. 00:21:39.299 --> 00:21:45.200 If your staff only praise you because their jobs depend on it, you're in a perilous position. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:52.359 If you don't have people in your life who will say to you, that comment you made, that was a mistake, you should apologize. 00:21:53.299 --> 00:21:55.799 Or stop it with a vanity on social media. 00:21:55.919 --> 00:21:56.359 Cut it out. 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.979 Whatever it might be. 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:02.539 If you don't have people in your life that are able to do that. 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.740 If you don't invite that from people, you're a fool. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.219 Now, of course, no discipline is pleasant at the time, but painful, Hebrews 12 tells us. 00:22:11.220 --> 00:22:20.660 But if it is received with humility, the writer of the Hebrews says it will bear a harvest of righteousness in your life. 00:22:21.100 --> 00:22:23.140 You'll grow and you'll mature. 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:27.880 And the adversity, the criticism, the correction, it will have been worth it. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.779 Third comparison comes in verse 8. 00:22:33.779 --> 00:22:38.099 Death is a better teacher than birth. 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:40.539 Rebuke is better than empty praise. 00:22:40.639 --> 00:22:43.440 The third comparison, better is the end of a thing than its beginning. 00:22:44.059 --> 00:22:46.539 And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:51.639 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:54.579 Say not, why were the former days better than these? 00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:57.359 For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:02.099 Patience is better than proud grumbling. 00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:09.059 The sort of adversity that comes into our lives that means that we have to be patient is difficult. 00:23:10.459 --> 00:23:12.279 Patience is a really difficult thing. 00:23:13.459 --> 00:23:20.339 When you see a patient person, something, well, when I see a patient person, something in me just is a bit of envy. 00:23:20.679 --> 00:23:21.779 I want to be more like that. 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:25.379 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:30.359 Every epic fail compilation that you might see has a version of this verse 8. 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:32.419 The person who celebrates too soon. 00:23:34.179 --> 00:23:37.799 Running in a try and showboating over the line only to drop the ball. 00:23:39.919 --> 00:23:42.939 He's saying, wait to celebrate until the battle is won. 00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:46.559 And waiting in general, as I say, is the thrust of this comparison. 00:23:46.719 --> 00:23:49.619 Being patient with God's providence in your life. 00:23:49.699 --> 00:23:53.359 Remember back in chapter 3, God is the Lord of the seasons. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:58.079 God is the Lord of every single detail in your life. 00:23:58.179 --> 00:23:58.740 There is nothing. 00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:00.419 He knows the number of hairs on your head. 00:24:00.699 --> 00:24:03.859 There is nothing outside of His sovereign providence. 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:11.199 Which means you are where you are in the situation you're in because God has allowed that to be the case. 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:16.319 And when things get especially difficult, we love verse 10. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.259 Remember the good old days. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.639 Why were the former days better than these? 00:24:26.919 --> 00:24:28.099 What's the problem with that? 00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:34.879 The problem with that is that we are no longer in the good old days because God doesn't want us to be. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:37.500 And we are where we are because He does. 00:24:39.259 --> 00:24:44.480 Grumbling and wishing that you were in the past is to despise God's providence in the present. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:50.380 Patience is better than proud grumbling. 00:24:53.460 --> 00:25:03.420 So whatever situation you find yourself in at the moment, don't forget that you are there under the all-encompassing providence of God. 00:25:03.740 --> 00:25:04.480 Even the injustices. 00:25:06.220 --> 00:25:07.480 Even the accidents. 00:25:09.099 --> 00:25:11.200 And the well-thought-out decisions. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:14.039 All of them are under His care. 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.220 So getting angry and getting impatient is no good. 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:25.339 Rather, we must learn that God has us where He has us so that we might learn patience. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:30.079 That we might learn a deeper trust in our Heavenly Father. 00:25:30.180 --> 00:25:32.680 That we might learn a closer walk with Him. 00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:37.920 By definition, adversity can't always be bad. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:41.060 Because adversity is the way of the cross. 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:46.900 When we follow Jesus Christ, we choose adversity. 00:25:48.740 --> 00:25:51.779 But we're choosing an adversity that makes us more like Him. 00:25:51.779 --> 00:25:57.740 It's an adversity that makes us wiser. 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.420 Makes us humbler. 00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:04.619 Makes us more Christ-like. 00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:11.179 So Solomon here would have us lean in to what death can teach us. 00:26:12.239 --> 00:26:14.399 Lean in to correction and rebuke. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:17.059 And lean in to patience. 00:26:17.179 --> 00:26:21.639 Because in the end, those things will make you more like the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:25.940 The life of wisdom. 00:26:27.300 --> 00:26:32.040 It's a life that knows that prosperity isn't necessarily good. 00:26:32.860 --> 00:26:35.680 And adversity isn't necessarily bad. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:37.400 This. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:39.140 This. 00:26:39.800 --> 00:26:40.540 Is living. 00:26:41.620 --> 00:26:42.140 Let's pray. 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:42.180 Let's pray. 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:42.180 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:44.020 Let's pray. 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:44.020 00:26:44.020 --> 00:26:46.020 Let's pray. 00:26:46.020 --> 00:26:46.020 00:26:46.020 --> 00:26:48.020 Let's pray. 00:26:48.020 --> 00:26:48.020 00:26:48.020 --> 00:26:48.020 00:26:48.020 --> 00:26:48.020