This book is brutally honest about life. Be under no illusions. Under the sun, this life is littered with grievous evil, injustice, dissatisfaction.
! The preacher of Ecclesiastes, as he's taken us through on his world tour, pulls back the curtains, doesn't he, and confronts us with the reality of the reality of the world.
Well done for bearing with him and listening to him over these past few weeks because I want to encourage you that all of the difficult stuff that we've been taught in this book so far, all of the difficult stuff is for our good.
It is for true life because all of it interrupts the charade that we play in life. The charade that without God and without receiving life from God as a gift, that we can be totally satisfied.
But it's a charade of empty, vain joy. And yet he's got us to the point here near to the end of the book where he can speak more positively and resolutely.
He's a bit more strident in this passage. And you can sum up his message, I think, in two words this afternoon. Be bold. Be bold. Just look at some of the verbs that he uses, the doing words.
And verse 1, cast. Cast. Verse 2, give. Verse 6, sow. Cast, give, sow. Be bold with your life. Be bold with two areas in life.
First of all, he says, be bold with two areas in life. Be bold with two areas in life. Be bold with two areas in life.
Be bold with the uncertainties of life. It's been said before that fortune favours the bold before it favours the worthy.
And there is real truth in that, isn't there? When there's nothing ventured, there's nothing gained, he who dares wins.
But we can so easily live life with the motto, what if? What if? Uncertainties, uncertainty can stunt life.
And endless speculation over uncertainty can stunt life. Because we want control, don't we?
We live life in an imaginary control tower with one of those kind of radar screens in front of us.
And we try to keep track of all the aircraft. All the incomings and all the outgoings of life.
And our radar is spinning constantly. But control, he is about to tell us in everything, is an illusion.
Verse 2, you don't know what disaster may happen. Uncertainties.
And there are things in life that just happen. From our point of view, there's no rhyme or reason. There's no control.
The clouds, he says, are full of rain. Then they empty themselves on the earth.
And then a tree falls in the woods somewhere, either to the south or to the north.
There it goes. And there it lies.
No one planned it.
The tree didn't ask for our permission or guidance.
The clouds didn't consult us when to fill with rain and when to rain.
The clouds did not sync their calendars with ours.
They did not let us control them.
There is uncertainty all around us.
Falling trees in the woods couldn't care less about our plans, could they?
And life happens.
It happens to us.
And it happens around us.
It doesn't mean that nobody knows the rhyme or reason for things.
No. Verse 5.
God makes everything.
He works by his spirit secretly in hidden places.
In places that we can't see.
Like in a mother's womb.
But from our point of view, do you see the point he's making?
Our problem is that we try to treat the uncertainties out there as if they can be certain.
As if we could watch and control and analyse and plan so that everything in our lives runs well.
But life just happens.
Constant analysing, though, can be paralysing.
Just look at verse 4.
He who observes the wind will not sow.
And he who regards the clouds will not reap.
Now do you see what the man is doing there?
He's putting analysis ahead of action, isn't he?
Observing, regarding, but he's not doing anything.
He's hesitating.
He's waiting for ideal conditions.
And too much observing, too much trying to control the uncertainties of life can actually obstruct productivity and harvest.
Even with all of our analysis, plenty of things will still be hidden to us in our lives, won't they?
Even the Met Office gets it wrong.
Frequently.
Few great enterprises have waited, actually, for ideal conditions.
And if you spend all of your time waiting for them, you might never do anything.
Hardly anything is ideal, is it?
But we pretend that it can be and that we can do it.
I think we struggle with this today with Google.
We Google, don't we, all the data before we make any decisions.
And then once we've made the decision, we think, well, what if there's one more bit of data?
One more piece of information that I haven't found yet that will invalidate my current decision.
But he who keeps observing the wind won't ever sow.
Do you see what he does here with the uncertainties of life in verse 1 to 6?
He pairs them, doesn't he, with a particular response that he's telling us to make.
Instead of reservation and fear and constant analysis and to-ing and fro-ing,
the response is, go for it.
It's enterprise, isn't it?
There's a buoyancy.
Just go for it.
Cast your bread upon the waters, he says.
It's not about feeding the ducks, by the way.
What is he talking about there?
It could be sowing seed in the floodplains.
It could be about sending resources out onto ships for investment.
It's difficult to know precisely what he means.
It's difficult to know whether he's talking about business investment or just giving to others.
Like he says in verse 2, give a portion to 7 or even to 8.
It could be both, actually, couldn't it?
Either way, if you don't embark on something because of uncertainty, you know you definitely won't get a return.
But if you do cast your bread, you know there's a good chance you will.
Life is uncertain.
You could respond, couldn't you, by getting everything that is owed to you, all of your just desserts,
and eating them all really quickly because you don't know what's in the future.
Or, he says, you could give your desserts away.
Because one day everything you have might be taken from you.
You don't know how long it's going to last.
I used to cycle around Ealing a lot before I had both of my wheels stolen.
On the second bike that I bought, after the first one was stolen outside the council, during a lunchtime talk.
It's just infuriating, isn't it?
Someone in our church, you know her well, most of you, had her wallet stolen on the bus.
Coming to ELT a couple of weeks ago, she'd lost, I think, £1,000 in 15 minutes.
As they'd gone and contactless payments everywhere.
It's almost worth catching the thief, isn't it?
Just to give them what for.
It's so infuriating.
But on reflection, as I think about my wheels,
the real frustration of losing things like that
is that I had the chance to give it away.
I'd have preferred, if I could go back in time,
the other option would have been better to just give it to them.
Or give it to somebody else.
I'd have preferred to give the money away.
That would have been better.
I'm no better off.
But someone else could have been.
I could have cast it on the water.
I could have used it in some other way for good.
Rather than keeping it to myself.
Rather than locking it away.
He's not advocating irresponsibility or bravado with our resources.
And it is your money.
It's your stuff.
It's your resources.
To do with it what you want and what you decide.
And that really is fine.
It really is.
But you never know what is going to happen.
And the time for casting and giving and sowing
might not last very long.
And the motto of our lives, if it is what if,
it could change to, I could have.
I could have given it away.
I could have been generous.
That would have been better.
I could have invested in something that lasts.
He's saying, isn't he, life is predictably unpredictable.
So be bold.
Go on, I dare you.
He says.
Give to a missionary.
Serve in the local church.
Use your gifts.
Invest in things.
Spend time with people.
Spend time with someone in need.
Give them your desserts.
Literally, if you like.
Cast your bread.
Because you don't know what's going to happen.
Don't keep making excuses.
Analyzing can be so paralyzing, can't it?
It's too early.
It's too late.
Too hot.
Too cold.
You can spend all of your life, though,
waiting for ideal conditions
and never do anything.
I could have.
So be bold with the uncertainties.
Secondly, he says, be bold with the certainties.
Be bold with the certainties.
Someone has said, commenting on this passage,
that we can treat the uncertainties of life
as if they were certain,
but we can also treat the certainties
as if they were uncertain.
We can pretend that the certain
might never happen.
There are some things that we can't predict.
That's true.
But there are other things that we know
will happen to us
without a doubt.
And so the flip side is,
let the certain things
of the future and of life
shape how you deal with the uncertain things.
And this is what he does in verse 9 to the end.
He speaks to a young person, doesn't he,
at the beginning of their life.
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth.
Verse 9.
Young person, young man,
pay attention to the certainties
that you are going to face,
that all of us will face at some point.
Did you hear the certainties
that he talks about?
He's quite frank about them, isn't he?
The frustration of an ageing body,
the certainty of pain,
and the certainty of judgment
before God.
Those things are going to happen
to all of us.
But just as with the uncertainties,
the response is still the same.
Be bold.
It's a different side to the same coin, really.
Because it's just as foolish
to do nothing
by pretending that the certainties
won't happen
as it is to think
that the uncertainties will.
So the young person
needs to be bold
in enjoying the opportunities
that youth gives.
Let your heart cheer you, he says.
Enjoy your youth.
Enjoy what remains of it.
And again,
he mixes the reality
of our certainties
with our response.
He mixes the certain boundaries
that we are going to face
with a call to enjoy bliss.
Enjoy the sun
while you've still got young eyes.
Enjoy the sweetness of light.
Let your heart cheer you.
Don't be miserable.
These things will certainly happen
to you one day.
So enjoy the bliss of youth now.
Those of us who are more mature
in years of life
really understand what he's saying here.
We feel like screaming
with the preacher.
Don't we?
And maybe the lessons you've learnt
getting older,
maybe you wish you'd learnt them earlier.
Maybe you wish you could
sort of go back in a time machine
and speak to your younger self
and shout at yourself
and shout at younger people
and say,
what you had then,
what you have now
is precious.
Some of you
are really feeling like
you're getting alongside
the preacher here.
The body maybe isn't quite
as cooperative as it once was.
Going to bed with aches
and pains
and confusion.
You know what he means,
don't you?
You know what he means
more than anybody else here.
that the saying is so often true
that youth
is wasted on the young.
Young person,
let the certainties of old age
determine how you live,
how you grab life
and cast your bread on the waters.
Don't waste your life.
Don't waste your youth.
Don't waste it on video games
and on triviality.
I think as well,
he does speak to anyone,
even if we're older in years,
anyone who enjoys
the faculties of youth
still
in older age.
You can be young at heart,
can't you?
While you still have
some of those faculties
that you used to have,
he says to you as well,
enjoy them.
Use them.
Enjoy the life
that God has given you.
Don't waste them even now.
Because one day
you will lose them,
and that's certain.
You will lose life altogether.
We all will.
It is quite striking
how he speaks of the certainty
of God's judgment
here
in verse 9.
He brings it in.
Let's read that.
Walk in the weight of your heart
and the sight of your eyes,
but know that for these things
God will bring you into judgment.
Now,
the context here
is really
unusual and interesting
because he speaks
of judgment
in the context
of enjoyment,
doesn't he?
And it sheds a different light
on God's judgment.
When we hear that word,
judgment,
I don't know what you think.
I think we naturally think
God is a killjoy,
that he will judge
all of our evil acts,
and gladly God does judge evil,
doesn't he?
But he also judges
our enjoyment
here.
He will not only judge
our evil acts,
but he will judge
what we've done
with good things
that he's given us
in life.
He says,
young person,
grab life
and enjoy your youth
because God will judge
how you enjoy it.
So strange,
isn't it?
Because
this life
is a gift
from God,
as he said
time and time
and again.
And any gift
that we give
to somebody,
it's an offence
if it's not opened
and enjoyed,
isn't it?
It's awful.
I know I've done this
when I've given a gift
and I've given a gift
to a person
and I've gone to visit them
some days later
and that gift isn't there
and then I've seen it
in someone else's house.
So they've re-gifted it
and it's still unopened
in their house as well.
That's quite hurtful.
They haven't enjoyed it,
they haven't opened it.
And God is not delighted
when we get life
from him
and we leave it
unopened
and we sort of
stash it in the attic.
I think it's been
a mistake
of Christians
in the past
of living
a harsh life
brought upon themselves.
It's called asceticism
of wearing
sort of
Hessian cloaks
and hitting themselves
with nettles
and stuff.
It's kind of
sadomasochistic life.
And there is
a false pride
in that
because enjoyment
here is not just
permitted
for some crazy
Christians,
it's commanded
for all.
And not enjoying
life
and not opening
life up
is an offence
to the giver
of it.
I want to say
being miserable
is a sin
because it shows you
that you don't
actually think that
much of the giver
of life.
And you won't
count your blessings,
you'd rather just
list all of your
complaints to him.
President Roosevelt
gave a famous
speech called
The Strenuous Life
in 1899.
And he was
speaking to
high flyers
in society
at the Hamilton
Club in Chicago.
And he said this,
Far better it is
to dare
mighty things
to win
glorious triumphs
even though
chequered by
failure
than it is
to take rank
with those
poor spirits
who neither
enjoy much
nor suffer much
because they
live in the
grey twilight
that knows
neither victory
nor defeat.
Sometimes you
don't know
what's going to
happen.
Uncertainties.
And with
many things
we do know
things are
going to happen.
Judgment
and the end
of life.
Either way
be bold
the preacher
says.
Get out
of the
twilight
of indecision
and of
procrastination
of putting
things off.
Just as we
close it
strikes us
in this passage
that much of
what the preacher
is saying here
is about our
mentality towards
life isn't it?
It is not
about having a
kind of sucking
everything in
as gain
mentality
but a giving
out mentality
casting
giving and
sowing.
And it's the
whole concept
isn't it
that giving
away
that throwing
out
that sending
out our
life and our
resources
is better than
hoarding and
keeping and
holding.
Giving is better
than receiving.
He takes
language from
business and
agriculture of
sowing and
so on.
And in those
situations God
has set the
world up in
such a way as
to teach us a
lesson.
That growth
happens when we
give away.
Think about it.
Unless you
throw seeds
out, that
little bit of
food in your
hand, if you
get rid of it
it comes back
to you,
doesn't it?
Unless you
throw it out
there's no
growth.
And you've
got to take
the risk of
losing something,
of losing
seeds to get
bread back.
You've
actually got to
bury seeds,
haven't you?
You've got to
watch them die
in the ground
before it comes
back to life
and gives you
food.
And that
whole experience
in other areas
of life can be
so hard.
It can feel
so risky,
can't it?
Just stepping
out.
because we
want control
and we want
things fenced
in.
But life
comes when
we die,
he's saying
here,
when we die
to self.
And that
is a great
summary really
of the
Christian life.
You see on
your sheets
the second
reading there
from John's
Gospel.
Jesus speaks
about his
own death
and he
says the
hour has
come for
the Son
of Man
to be
glorified
and he
picks up
the idea
of seeds.
Very
truly I
tell you
unless a
kernel of
wheat falls
to the
ground
and dies
it remains
only a
single seed
so I've got
a different
version.
But if it
dies it bears
much fruit.
Whoever
loves his
life loses
it and
whoever hates
his life in
this world
will keep
it for
eternal life.
Now of
course Jesus
is speaking
there about
general
principles but
he's speaking
specifically
about himself
and he is
the one who
has lived
out Ecclesiastes
11 to the
nth degree.
He's the one
who's willingly
cast not
just his
money and
his stuff but
his whole
life, his
whole existence
out upon
the waters.
He's cast
and give
and sown.
He speaks
of his own
death and
yet paradoxically
he calls it
the moment
of his
glory.
Jesus was
not ruled
by what
ifs and
he now
never can
say I
could have
could he?
And now
look at him
enthroned in
glory.
So don't
hoard life,
unwrap it,
enjoy life
where you
can and how
you can
saying thank
you to the
giver and
be bold.
Go on,
I dare you,
says the
preacher.
Let's pray.
Thank you.