Death Certain, Life Good; Enjoy life while it lasts

Text Ecclesiastes 8.16-9.9 Time 04/11/05 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I want you to imagine two men. Both profess to be Christians.

is a stern fellow, rather grim. He often fasts, never drinks alcohol. He doesn’t believe in spending too much money on clothes and buys all his clothes from Oxfam. His shoes are the cheapest he can find. He indulges in no luxury and is a single man as he believes holy people don’t get married. He is not particularly friendly. Picture him in your mind.

Jack is a relaxed fellow, easy going in manner. He likes his food and drink and has been known to spend a large amount of money on a slap up meal in a good restaurant. He dresses smartly and uses expensive after-shave. He is married with children. He likes to take his wife away for quiet weekends alone from time to time. He often laughs despite the troubles that come into his life from time to time. Picture him in your mind.

Now these are caricatures, of course, not real people but let me ask you, which one do you think is the most holy? Which one would you think is likely to walk closest to God – Joe the grim, fasting, teetotaller bachelor in his Oxfam cast-offs and cheap shoes? Jack the easy going gourmet, wine drinker and father of four in his Italian suit and leather shoes?

Now, of course, we can’t see into men’s hearts and so the question is redundant to some extent. The reason I raise it, however, is because many of us have a sneaking feeling that Joe is more likely to be the holy one and a sneaking suspicion that Joe is really not acting to some extent in the way that a good Christian should. And the question is whether we are right.

Keep that question in mind as we turn to Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:9. This is the first part of the fourth and final main section of this book. The first three main sections are – 1:12-2:26;3:1-5:20 and 6:1-8:15. To summarise

1. True contentment is found in God alone. It is not found in man but in God and so we must look to him for wisdom, knowledge and happiness, refusing to go on any longer in our sins.

2. God wants us to live in a way that is good and proper. It is a satisfying way. Indeed to know how to enjoy life and to be content is a gift of God. Such people are so taken up with God that they have no time to worry about death or such things.

3. Prosperity is not always a good thing nor is adversity necessarily a bad thing. Rather we must avoid running to unwise extremes, thinking too highly of human power or giving up seeking wisdom because it is so difficult. We should recognise the importance of obedience to the powers that be and the good it does while recognising their undoubted weakness. We should also consider both the judgement of God and the unfairness of life now.

He concludes (15) So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.

Now in this final section Solomon doesn’t really open up new arguments but confirms and enlarges upon what has gone before. Here come the practical exhortations.

There are three things here

1. Recognise that life is full of mystery

1. Accept the testimony of a man who knows

Verses 16, 17 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labour on earth - his eyes not seeing sleep day or night - then I saw all that God has done. The idea of having the leisure to study wisdom and to learn about all the things that occupy men here on earth, all that God has done as he puts it here, may sound very attractive to some but for most of us we have neither the time nor the inclination nor for that matter the ability. Now Solomon wasn’t like that. He had the time, he had the inclination and, by the grace of God, he had the mind for the task. He applied his keen mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labour on earth – his ceaseless round of activity. He saw all that God has done.

Do you ever get advice from strangers? People will advise you about all sorts of things quite freely. For example, ‘Don’t bother to pay the congestion charge. They never catch up with you.’ ‘Get your fruit and veg in Kilburn. It’s the cheapest.’ ‘If you go to Wales take an umbrella.’ It’s not wise to take any old piece of advice and assume it’s correct. You have to weigh up who’s giving it. Well, here is the testimony then of a man famed for his wisdom. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and what he says is here in Holy Scripture. You can take this as Gospel. This testimony is true.

We are not wise but here is a man who was. If we are willing to listen to him then we too can be wise.

2. Despite all his efforts man can’t plumb the mystery of life under the sun

So what does he say? No-one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. ‘It is impossible’ says Solomon ‘to know all that goes on in this earth. Men make many efforts to search out its meaning but it is not possible to learn it.’ All wisdom, however great it is, is incomplete. There is always more to know. Now we don’t like such a thought but it is a fact. We must try our best to understand this world but it will always be beyond us. There are many examples of this. There was a time, I believe, when physics as explained by Isaac Newton was accepted by most scientists. Then along came Albert Einstein and our understanding underwent a paradigm shift. Maybe another will follow in years to come. Or take global warming. It is generally agreed that there is such a thing although there are some who question it. Not everything seems to add up completely. What about dyslexia? Thirty years ago none of us had heard the word, now we have at least some idea of what it is supposed to be. But now people are questioning whether the current thinking is correct. Anyone who claims to understand it all doesn’t really understand it all. If you think you understand the situation in Northern Ireland, they say, then you don’t properly understand it. Similarly, it is so more generally.

3. Though people claim to have plumbed it they lie

Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

So when a man says ‘I’m an atheist’ you know something is wrong. He doesn’t know everything. So how can he know that God’s existence isn’t one of the things he doesn’t know? People who come along with their cut and dried systems thinking thy can explain everything at a stroke are dangerous people and they should be avoided. There are many cults and false religions around that make huge claims but really they know very little at all. There are many mysteries in life, many things we cannot explain. To deny that is to fly in the face of the truth.

2. Recognise, however, that we do know two things

Having said all that, we do not want to make the mistake of saying we don’t know anything. Agnostics, for example, properly speaking, are those who claim we can’t really know anything. That’s why, they say, you can’t believe in God for sure. But just because we can’t believe things exhaustively doesn’t mean to say that we can’t know them at all. Some of you know me. You don’t know everything about me. But that doesn’t mean to say that you don’t know me. And so we have to accept that none of us, not even Solomon, knows everything. However there are some things we do know nevertheless. So what do we know?

1. We know that we will all soon die

If you are a Christian that is one of the things you know very well. We are all going to die. Let’s put it like this. We know as believers

1 That our lives are in God’s hands

9:1 So I reflected on all this says Solomon and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands. How did we get to be alive? How did we come to have life? Well, it is something that God has given us. It is something he gave and something that he can take away. We are in God’s hands. That is an important thing to know. To imagine that we came to be alive and can go on living as we please is a great mistake. Many fall for it but let none of you do that. Our lives are in God’s hands. Acts 17:28 says For in him we live and move and have our being. Are you aware of that fact?

2 But they are ignorant of the future

We know that we are in God’s hands; however, like everyone else, we do not know the future - but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. Who know what’s round the corner? As the proverb says we do not know what a day may bring. It is all a mystery to us. We can’t even be sure, despite all our sophistication, what the weather will be like next Tuesday. In truth, we don’t even know if we’ll be alive next Tuesday. Do you think often of that fact?

3. Yet they do know that death is man’s common destiny

Verse 2 All share a common destiny - the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. As Benjamin Franklin once famously said, there are two things in this life you can’t escape – death and taxes! Now it’s very obvious, I know, but it’s surprising how many people live regardless of this obvious brute fact. There is no way around it. We will all die one day. We must never forget that that’s where we’re all heading – to the grave. Death awaits us all. Indeed, even now it is on the road.

4 This is the evil in life under the sun

9:3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. No matter who you are, you will die. The rich die as well as the poor, the young as well as the old, the good as well as the bad. It’s no good thinking you can somehow save yourself by being good. It doesn’t work like that. He says

• While they live men’s hearts are filled with madness and evil. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live. This point has been made before. We are born corrupt. We are full of evil and not just evil but madness. This is how we live our lives. Evil? You only have to think of the terrorists and suicide bombers, the looters and rapists down in New Orleans. And isn’t it madness too? If you want to know about madness there is plenty of evidence. For example, I was in Aberystwyth recently and on the way to church someone pointed out to me where a drunk student had fallen onto railings and died. On July 15, 1999, in Alabama, a drunk hurled himself out of a high window in a spitting contest. (Cf Darwin Awards 1 - 180 bizarre and true stories of how dumb humans have met their maker). Take people in Lima, Peru who believe that the Titicaca frog (an endangered species) is an aphrodisiac. They put them in a juicer and drink the liquid! Half of the things reported in our newspapers reveal some sort of madness or other.
• Then they die and afterwards they join the dead. Some die sooner than others because of their stupidity. Take the example of Carol and Mark, who in April 1999, in Washington DC died from laughing gas (nitrous oxide). They were intelligent people (a fire department worker and a medical technician) but they were fools. Some last longer than these, of course, but all die in the end.

2. We know that it is good to be alive.

Verse 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope - even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! This is not a denial of the joys of heaven but a realisation that, all other things being equal, it is best that we live long lives. Certainly under the sun it is better to be alive than to be dead. What can the dead do? Do they make good fathers and mothers? No. Given the choice wouldn’t you want to see your children grow up. In nearly every case you’d want a person to go on living as long as possible. It is good to be alive.

Here are some reasons

1 The living know some things, the dead know nothing. Verse 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. Again this is an under the sun perspective but you can see the point I’m sure.

2 Unlike the living, the dead go unrewarded and are often forgotten. They have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. I know that you do sometimes get posthumous awards and medals but those are really for the person’s family. When they give out Oscars and so on although they occasionally will have someone who has just died honoured they look to the living. The film people never say what about Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy let’s award them this year. No, they look for someone living to award. Put it this way - who are the best preachers you’ve ever heard? Aren’t they ones that have been alive?!! Spurgeon was a great preacher in his day. We could, I suppose, exhume the bones and have him back here but we won’t get much of a sermon from him. I make no boast when I say that I could preach a better sermon than Spurgeon tonight!! Worse than that, as we’ve observed before, people are often forgotten when they die. There must have been fine preachers in Spurgeon’s day but do you know any of their names? Moody? The Bonars? Mostly they are forgotten. Ask that  we will be given a few years more. Remember my question about the names of your great grandparents?

3. This Life is fleeting and death is final

Verse 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. How brief life is, how fleeting. It doesn’t last long. So quickly it is passed. "Time like an ever rolling stream …." Once you are dead, you play no active part in life here on earth. It’s finished. It’s over. A great runner, a great singer, a great boxer – once they are dead they are useless.

3. Therefore aim to enjoy life despite its emptiness and toil

So we come to Solomon’s conclusion in the light of all this. It may surprise you but it is only what he has suggested already.

1. Enjoy this time of God’s favour

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do. To be alive is to be favoured by God. It is not something that lasts long. It is soon over and it is right that we should enjoy it while we can. Food and drink are to be enjoined. We mustn’t be greedy, of course, and we must take care not to shorten our lives by over indulgence but food and drink is to be enjoyed. There may be times when we feel we ought to fast in order to draw near to God but fasting is not a big feature of true religion. It is much more about happy times around the table in fellowship. APP Recognise that this is the time of God’s favour. Thank him for it. Enjoy life while it lasts. Banish all thought of suicide or of wanting to die

2. Enjoy these God-given days

Verse 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. White was only worn by those rich enough to be sure they would not get their clothing dirty. Oil was used as lotion or like after-shave or perfume. Verse 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless (empty) life that God has given you under the sun. Some believers have had a low view of sex and marriage. That is quite unbiblical. Yes, some are called to singleness for various reasons including the kingdom. The norm, however, is for believers, to be married or at least to be willing to be married. The thing to remember is that life is God given – it is a gift from him. It is to be enjoyed. Death is ahead, yes, and after that the judgement but now we are alive, we must make the most of it. Are you dong that? Are you seeking to live life to the full? We ought to be very positive about life. It is a gift from God.

3. Enjoy life in spite of the emptiness and toil there is

He ends - all your meaningless (empty) days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labour under the sun. That is important. Solomon hasn’t forgotten how hard life can be. There is a fallenness, a fleeting quality about life that means it is hard to grasp. There is plenty of toil too. Oh how hard some things are! How pressing! Yet life itself is good. Jonathan Edwards once surmised (and I think correctly) that the reason most people don’t commit suicide is because in the end life is good. And it is good to be alive isn’t it? The simplest things can bring so much pleasure? The sunrise, the sunset, the rain, snow, the smell of new mown hay, a pint of cold beer, the music of the flute or the trumpet, flowers, trees, birds singing, a wedding, a honeymoon, a life together, your best friend calling, Sunday tea, etc. To be a Christian is not to deny any of those things but rather to see them as a gift of God and to enjoy them, conscious of his goodness. May God help us then to have the right perspective on all these things. Yes, there must be a willingness to deny ourselves certain things if we are going to live the Christian life. But we do not deny ourselves because it is wrong to enjoy life but because we are looking higher – above the sun, to God himself.

So what about Joe and Jack? I think you know what I’m saying.