Please turn back in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 11, page 559 if you've closed your Bibles.
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To us in the experience of our lives and the realities that we face, we ask that you would
do this for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Well, we're all in search of a good life.
That's what we want.
That's what those of you that are younger and are looking ahead and thinking about universities
and futures and careers, really the goal is a good life.
You want to live well in the world.
That's what politicians are always promising us.
They say, if you vote for me, we will give you a good life.
We will deliver the sorts of things that will give your life the sort of meaning and purpose
and joy that you want.
That's what Rachel Reeves thinks that this budget will deliver for British people.
That's what Donald Trump ran on the promise of as he was elected this past week.
He actually didn't just want to deliver the good life for American people, but the great
life.
We're told that a vote for him was a vote for a healthier, wealthier, safer America.
And people voted for him because that's what they want.
That is the great human quest, a life that goes well, a life that has purpose and that is
imbued with joy and satisfaction, a life of flourishing.
At one level or another, all of us make the choices we do, make the decisions that we do,
because that's what we want.
That's what we're searching for in this life.
And Solomon has told us from the start of this really rather enigmatic book that he is just
like us.
Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 3,
I searched with my heart till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under
heaven during the few days of their life.
I'm searching for the good life, he's saying.
And we've seen he has searched and searched and searched.
He's tried everything, he's told us.
We've seen he looked, first of all, at the cycle of life.
He thought maybe wisdom is the way to go, and so he searched out wisdom.
And he's given himself to pleasure and wealth and hard work, and he has explored then whether
honor and respect will deliver the joy and significance that he is seeking.
He said, these things are the things that people tell us will deliver the good life.
I am going to road test every single one of them.
He's turned every stone that there is to turn, and we've seen that his conclusion has been
consistent the whole way through.
It's all vanity.
All of it.
It's all vapor.
That's what the word translated vanity, meaningless in some translations.
It's vapor, foggy vapor.
He's saying there's nothing there.
And the more that you grasp after it, the more you realize how thin the mist actually is.
You know, sometimes when you get a heavy fog, you don't maybe get it so much in the city,
anymore, but when you get a really heavy fog, and they call it a real pea super, because
you can't see, and you feel like in a really heavy fog, almost like you could lean against
it and it would hold you up.
Well, what he's saying here, what Solomon is saying is that there is a mist.
It doesn't hold you up.
In fact, when you grasp after it, it is handfuls of vapor.
It is fistfuls of nothing.
And yet, there's been a drumbeat, hasn't there, the whole way through the letter that gives
us hope that the search for the good life is not a vain search.
Play on words.
Chapter 2, verse 24, there is nothing better, he says, for a person than he should eat and
drink and find enjoyment in his toil.
Chapter 5, 18, behold, what I have seen to be good, okay, we're listening, good and fitting,
is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun
the few days of his life that God has given him.
8, 15, and I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and
be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has
given him under the sun.
9, verse 9, enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that
he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at
which you toil under the sun.
What is the good life, Solomon?
Eat your food, drink your wine, and enjoy them.
See, when you know, as the Christian does, that God is in complete control of absolutely
everything in the world, that you have what you have because he has given it to you, that
you don't have what you don't have because he has kept it from you, well, you can receive
the gifts that he gives and you can say thank you and you can enjoy them.
Gratitude and trust.
They are the two, they are the touchstone, you could say, of the whole Christian faith.
Gratitude for what you have and trust God for what you don't have.
Gratitude for the things that you enjoy and trust God for the things that are difficult
and a struggle.
Now, our temptation, of course, is to grasp, is to grasp after these things, to do that
thing of trying to grab the things that Solomon has told us are vapor.
We want to gain in some way.
We want to advance ourselves.
Use these things in order to secure our position.
Make us the center of things.
We go after these things hoping that they will be the means by which we can control our lives
and we can deliver happiness.
But that's not the life of faith.
It's all a gift.
And we are to receive what we have as such.
And we're to be thankful.
But you'll notice, you'll notice as we've gone through that it's not just eating and drinking
that Solomon wants us to enjoy, but also something he calls toil.
Each of those exhortations that I read for you that kind of are these little sound bites
at different points as we go through the book, each one of those includes a call to enjoy our toil,
our labor.
Indeed, that is part of the programmatic verse I mentioned from chapter 2, verse 3.
I searched with my heart till I could see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven
during the few days of their life.
And Solomon hasn't really expanded on what that to do means,
of what the toil actually is,
until Ecclesiastes chapter 11, 1 to 6.
See, he's bringing the plane into land.
And as his descent towards the conclusion of this book comes around,
he tells us what the good of our toil should be.
And it's a summary of how we are to live the good life.
You could say it's a practical summary of the life of faith.
And there are two elements.
Point number one, he tells us,
admit what you don't know.
Admit what you don't know.
Did you notice 11, 1 to 6, Solomon repeats that phrase.
Verse 2, you know not.
Verse 5, you do not know.
You do not know.
And again, verse 6, you do not know.
There is so much about this life of which we are ignorant.
Think about how limited our knowledge is,
how little we know of ourselves,
how little we know of other people.
All the things we are ignorant about,
how ignorant we are of the deep state,
of God Himself.
There are so many questions that we could ask one another.
And the honest answer is,
I don't know.
But how often are we prepared to do that?
We don't like doing that.
We don't like recognizing
that there are limits to our knowledge.
Now, of course, if I was to ask you the question,
do you know everything there is to know in the world,
you would say, no, of course I don't.
But then I ask you another question,
and you don't know,
but you give an opinion.
Because it's really important
that you're seen to have an opinion.
But recognizing these limits
is a vital part of true wisdom.
That's what Solomon is saying.
But 25 years ago,
I knew a guy, and his name was Dave.
But in our group of friends,
he was known as,
I know.
In fact, back when I used to put
people's nicknames in my phone,
and when I put somebody's name in my phone,
I put their nickname in,
it came up, I know.
Anytime anyone commented
on something in conversation,
they might have seen,
they might have heard,
quite apart from whether Dave was around or not,
his response was always,
I know.
Or, I thought that.
You say, I see they're closing the road
for maintenance next week.
I know.
It became a running joke.
In fact, we would invent things
to get him just to say it.
Scandalous things made up
about celebrities,
politicians, famous people.
Did you see such and such
has turned into a frog?
I know.
I saw that.
The truth is,
we can all be a bit like that
in our own ways.
We don't want to admit
that we have limits
to our understanding
and our knowledge.
And Solomon is clear here
that whatever we do know,
there are some things
that are simply beyond us.
There are some things
that you can't know yourself
and you can't Google
to find the answer.
And he highlights
three very obvious areas.
Verse 2,
first of all,
we are ignorant about the future.
Give a portion to seven
or even to eight,
for you know not
what disaster may happen
on the earth.
Now, we'll see in a minute
he's talking about generosity here,
and the reason
that we should be generous people,
he's saying,
is because we don't actually know
what lies in the future.
Those poor people in Spain
last week,
their diaries were filled with plans.
And those plans were washed away,
literally,
in the floods.
You could leave here this evening
and get home
and get into bed
as you expect to do,
and I hope that does happen,
or you could leave here,
you could drop down
with a heart attack,
or you could be crossing the road
and one of those maniacs
on an electric scooter
could take you out.
It could be the end of your life.
You could be,
the rest of your life
could be significantly different
than you'd hoped.
You don't know.
All those things
that are in your diary,
will you get to attend
those meetings?
Will you get to go
on those holidays?
Will you get to make that call
or see that person for lunch?
You don't know.
We're ignorant about the future.
Solomon also says
we're ignorant about the work of God.
Verse 5,
As you do not know
the way the Spirit comes to the bones
in the womb of a woman with child,
so you do not know
the work of God
who makes everything.
We know that life begins
at conception.
We know that a baby
is formed in their mother's womb.
We know that cells divide
to form a hand over here
and an eye over here.
But we don't know
how life is created.
We don't know
how these things happen.
There are some things
that only God,
the maker of everything,
knows.
This was his point
when he spoke
to Job from the storm.
Job 38,
Have you comprehended
the expanse of the earth?
Asking it in a way
as if to say,
Well, of course you haven't.
I'm the only one
that's done that.
Where is the way
to the dwelling of light
and where is the place
of darkness?
Only God knows those things.
I often hear people
say things like,
Well, I believe God
will do this
or I believe God
will do that.
We've no idea.
One of the big themes
about the book of Ecclesiastes
is some of what we were hearing
this morning
from Acts chapter 4.
God is in complete
sovereign control
of absolutely
every single detail
of the world
and we don't know
why he works things out
the way he does.
We've no idea.
Thirdly,
we're ignorant
about the outcome
of our work.
Solomon tells us,
Verse 6,
Work hard, we're told.
Get the grades, we're told.
Then you'll get the job,
the good job that you'd like.
Put the work in,
in the good job,
and then you'll be set.
That's what we're told.
You'll be set.
Will you?
You don't know.
And just because it worked
that way for other people
is neither here nor there.
We all know people
who followed the right advice,
did all the right things,
and failed.
I remember talking
to an investor
who wasn't a Christian,
but he understood this.
He'd been investing
for many years
and he said to me,
I don't know why
some businesses I've backed
have flown
and why others have flopped.
I used the same criteria
to decide.
I only invest
where I like the people,
where the books were good,
and where the product
seemed like a good product.
But one does well
and the other fails.
He said,
it's a mystery.
That is the wisdom
of Ecclesiastes 11.
Our pursuit,
in our pursuit
of the good life,
wisdom requires us
to admit what we don't know.
It doesn't mean,
of course,
that we pursue ignorance.
We're not trying
to be stupid
or that we consider
not knowing.
Like,
some people,
I think,
maybe some Christians,
think that ignorance
is a virtue in some way.
They can spiritualize it.
Solomon is not saying
that it is godly
to be ignorant.
Of course he's not.
We should pursue knowledge
and we should especially
pursue knowledge of God.
We should pursue
the knowledge of God,
which is a knowledge
that we will never
fully exhaust,
but we should do it
so that we know
His ways better.
But there will always
be a white spot
on the map
when it comes
to our understanding
of God's providence.
Admit what we don't know.
But while we do that,
while we admit our limits,
Solomon doesn't want us
just to sit on our hands.
There is a positive toil
that he wants us
to lean into
and to enjoy as well.
So here's the second point.
Act on what you do know.
Solomon has told us
that God is in complete
sovereign control
over every detail of life.
He has repeatedly told us
that we must live by faith
in this reality
if we will experience
the joy that he keeps
talking about.
The question is,
what does a life of faith
actually look like?
What does it involve?
Well, again,
we have three commitments.
Verses 1 and 2,
first of all,
he commends to us
risky generosity.
Risky generosity.
Cast your bread
upon the waters
for you will find it
after many days.
Give a portion to seven
or even to eight.
Casting your bread
on the water
sounds to me
like quite a strange idiom.
Conjures up images
in my mind
of feeding ducks
in the park,
throwing them some moldy crusts
and watching them go soggy.
So it's a bit strange.
But what he's doing here
is actually describing
giving to other people
and giving probably
to those who are in need
in some way.
And he's saying,
do that with great generosity.
The number seven,
you will know,
is the biblical number
of perfection.
And he's saying
that you should even
go beyond that.
He's kind of using hyperbole.
Don't just go as far
as you can.
Go even further.
He's saying,
go to eight.
It's a call
to take risks
as you invest
in other people.
It is a call
to relinquish
selfish control
of your own life
and your own possessions.
He is saying
the Christian
is to live
their life
with open hands.
Be generous
with what you have.
Remember,
it's gift,
not gain.
Now,
one of the interesting
things about this
is that he doesn't just say,
go and be really,
really generous.
Do you notice?
Cast your bread
upon the waters
for you will find it
after many days.
See,
part of the reason
that we live
with open hands
is because
the casting
brings a return.
Cast your bread
for you will find it.
The Christian knows
that to give to others,
especially the needy,
is actually
to give
to the Lord.
Proverbs 19,
whoever is generous
to the poor
lends to Yahweh,
lends to God,
and he will repay him
for his deed.
One commentator
says this,
Solomon is issuing
a call to be
boldly generous
and lavishly good
to our neighbors.
This is the epitome
of wisdom,
even though it looks
like a losing proposition.
Wisdom does not
walk by faith,
but by sight.
See what he's done there?
That's the key
to any generosity,
you see.
Do we trust God
to keep his word?
We could hear this
sort of thing,
you know,
give to the poor
and you will find it again
after many days.
You know,
if I give a bit over here,
well,
I might get a bit more
back over here.
There are certain theologies
that would espouse
that kind of nonsense.
we're not trying
to make our generosity
come back to us
because that's not
being generous.
Nor is it the life
of faith.
It's the life
of seeking to control
God in some way
which when we put it
like that actually
sounds like a life
of folly,
doesn't it?
I am going to seek
to pursue controlling God.
That is the absolute
epitome of madness.
What he's saying here is
we are to be generous
in a way that feels risky
but it is surrendered
to the will
and providence of God.
Isn't that what Jesus said
in Luke chapter 6?
Luke 6, 35,
Do good and lend
expecting nothing in return
and your reward
will be great
and you will be sons
of the Most High
for He is kind
to the ungrateful
and the evil.
Verse 38,
Luke 6, 38,
Give and it will be given
to you good measure
pressed down,
shaken together,
running over
will be put into your lap
for the measure you use
it will be measured
back to you.
Those who are generous
without any desire
to gain themselves
end up gaining
because that's the way
the upside down nature
of the kingdom of God.
Same principle
of the Apostle Paul
in 2 Corinthians 9,
Whoever sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly
and whoever sows bountifully
will also reap bountifully.
Each one must give
as he has decided
in his heart
not reluctantly
or under compulsion
for God loves
a cheerful giver.
Be generous
and do it with a smile
on your face
he's saying.
Risky,
and the only way
that's possible,
risky generosity
is only possible
if it is kind of
coming out
of a confident faith.
Faith that God
is in complete control
of our lives,
that we have
what we have
and we don't have
what we don't
because of him.
And it's a faith
that he will keep
his promise
to provide
and return
our generosity
with blessing.
So what are you doing
to be generous
to others,
especially those
who are in need?
One of the things
I think we often do
is we think to ourselves,
well,
I think if,
I know I need
to be generous
and I'm really keen
to do that,
but I think it would
be better
if I waited
until I was
in a better place
financially
in order to be generous
then, you know,
when I get to that point
then, well,
I'll have that much
in the bank
and then I'll be able
to do it.
Now, each of us,
of course,
must give according
to our means
and according
to our conscience,
but we are supplied
by God's abundance.
So what we're really
talking about here
is faith.
It is trusting God
that we can be
generous with
whatever we have,
however much it is,
however much
or however little,
we can be generous
with that,
trusting that God
will supply.
You can be generous,
you can even be
extravagant
in your generosity
because you know
that God is faithful
and He has been
abundantly generous
to you.
We heard this morning
about being bold
and not giving way
to fear
as it comes
to living out
our Christian life
and speaking boldly
about the Lord Jesus.
That principle
applies here as well.
We should be bold
in our faith
in trusting God
as we are generous.
His word calls us
to do that
that He will supply.
Risky generosity.
Secondly,
Solomon calls us
to a realistic busyness.
Verses 3 and 4,
a realistic busyness.
If the clouds
are full of rain,
they empty themselves
on the earth
and if a tree
falls to the south
or to the north
in the place
where the tree
falls there,
it will lie.
He who observes
the wind will not sow
and he who regards
the clouds
will not reap.
There are some things
that are predictable
in life,
like when the clouds
come in,
we can assume
that rain will follow
and there are some things
that are unpredictable
like when and where
a tree will fall
in the forest.
And Solomon is saying
that's how it is
in the world.
We've got to be realistic
about that.
And that should change
nothing about
how hard we work.
I had a quick visit
to Belfast this week
and when we came in
to land in Belfast,
it was grey and wet
and the person
on the front said,
you know,
welcome to Belfast.
Well, I'm afraid
that the rain
has arrived
just ahead of us.
Of course it has.
It's Northern Ireland.
What did he expect?
It's not the Bahamas.
It's grey and wet
all the time
in Northern Ireland.
And yet,
the country is full of people
who still fire
into their work
every day regardless.
Solomon's saying,
don't look out the window
and say,
well, it looks like rain today.
I don't think I'm going to work.
Oh, it's a bit bluey.
We can't work today.
He's saying,
work hard.
Be busy in the things
that God has given you to do.
That includes the generosity
that Solomon has just mentioned
because another thing
that Solomon is getting at here
with this kind of
looking at the wind
and, you know,
holding back
from actually getting stuck
into your work
because you're looking
at the weather
and wondering,
will it work out
and everything else?
He's saying,
look,
don't be anxious
about that
when it comes
to generosity either.
Remember,
don't fear
that you're going
to be left short
in some way.
Get on with being generous
as well as everything else.
He's saying,
waiting for the point
at which you can read
the way the wind is blowing
and therefore can then
live without risks
or,
to put it another way,
to live without
having to trust God
because that's the opposite,
isn't it,
of the life of faith.
He's saying,
that's not the call
for the Christian.
Get after what it is
that you're supposed to do,
whatever the weather.
Metaphorically
and actually.
If you're waiting
for a fair wind
in your life
and whatever kind of
call the Lord
has put on your life,
if you're waiting for that,
you'll never get anything done.
Some days,
we've got to go
and graft in the rain
and push against the wind
and some days,
it is a bit easier.
But he's saying,
look,
you've got to be realistic.
This is the world
we live in.
Let's get busy anyway
about the things
that God has given us to do.
The third element
of enjoyable toil.
First is risky generosity.
The second is realistic busyness.
And the third,
he says,
reasonable diversity.
Five to six.
Reasonable diversity.
In the morning,
sow your seed
and at evening,
withhold not your hand
for you do not know
which will prosper,
this or that,
or whether both alike
will be good.
Sowing seed,
on the one hand,
withholding not your hand.
Those are two different
pursuits actually.
One is this,
the other is that.
Solomon is making that clear.
So what he's really saying here
is you think about your life,
as you think about
the things that you
throw yourself into,
don't put all your eggs
into the one basket.
We might call it
pursuing a diverse portfolio.
Not necessarily just
financial investments,
but just develop a side hustle
in your work.
Seek to find ways
to be productive.
Work hard.
You don't know
what might come of it.
You don't know
what God might do
with your efforts.
There are lots of good things
that you could
throw yourself into.
Now, of course,
those things have to
kind of take their place
among the priorities
that you have,
the commitments
that you have.
But he's saying,
get after it.
What he's doing,
actually,
is pressing us
to do the very opposite
of what we might think
or what we might be
tempted to think
in this world of Hevel,
this world of vapor.
See, you might think,
if everything is vapor,
well, there's no point
working hard.
But what he's saying here
is actually,
vapor is a motivation.
It's kind of counterintuitive.
Our ignorance
and lack of control
that he's just emphasized,
alongside the possibility
of disaster,
verse 2,
you do not know
what disaster may happen
on the earth.
So, these are a couple
of really significant realities.
We don't know loads of stuff.
We don't have any control
over the world
in which we live.
Disasters do happen
in this world,
and we might be tempted
to think to ourselves,
you know what,
I'm going to lock the doors,
I'm going to stay at home,
I'm going to try and just
be as safe as I possibly can.
And he's saying,
no, the opposite is true.
Get after it,
work hard,
hustle,
give generously,
and serve others,
and trust all the while
the outcome to God.
That's the good life.
That is,
Solomon's words,
what is good
for the children of man
to do under heaven
the few days of our lives.
Admit what you don't know,
and act on what you do
with a generosity
and a busyness
that is all the time
submitted to God,
trusting the outcome
to him.
The question we have is,
well, does this actually work?
Can we actually really
call this the good life?
You see, it's a vision
of life that's quite different
from what we're given
in other places, isn't it?
Our culture wouldn't call
that the good life.
So we need to define
what we mean by the good life,
because the truth
of the matter is,
this was the life
that was embodied
by the Lord Jesus.
The one who is the way,
the truth,
and the life.
The Lord Jesus lived
a life of absolute generosity,
giving, giving,
and giving again,
trusting his Father
with the outcome.
In his humanity,
Jesus was subject
to the vapor of this life
just as we are.
In his humanity,
he didn't know exactly
how every twist and turn
of his story
was going to work out,
but he pressed on.
Remember,
he wrestled with his Father
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In that moment,
he was anxious about,
you could say,
casting his bread
upon the waters.
In this case,
that bread was his body,
the bread of life.
But he gave it over,
not my will,
but yours be done.
He gave it over
as he surrendered
to the cross,
and in doing so,
he purchased life
for the world.
How did it go for him
and then,
after that,
well,
three days later,
he was vindicated
as the Father
raised him from the dead
and ushered him in
to resurrection life.
Solomon's wisdom
was embodied
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So,
it's not just wise advice
for us,
but it has been confirmed
as the path
that actually brings life
that is truly life.
It's the path
to resurrection glory.
So,
that is why
when Jesus tells us
to take up our cross
and follow him,
to embrace
the generous pattern
of life,
the pattern of my life
for yours,
which is essentially
the banner
over all of this,
that's the way of toil
in Ecclesiastes 11.
When he calls us
to do that,
we should lean in.
We should trust him.
We should live by faith
because we know
that actually,
in the end,
the return is worth it.
See,
that's where this
all lands for us.
In the end,
when we embrace
this pattern of life,
when we say,
I don't know this,
but I'm trusting you,
and when we say,
I'm going to lean in
to what you've called me
to do in a pattern
of generous service,
we're following
the example
of the Lord Jesus,
but we do that
confidently,
full of faith,
because we know
that is the path
to resurrection glory.
That's the path
of life.
That's the good life.
Let's pray.