NO REGRETS: The Pathway to Christ in Ecclesiastes
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Introduction: Imagine a scenario where you could go back in time & give your younger self some good advice. What would you tell yourself? What advice would you give? What would you do differently?
Fill in this blank: If I knew then what I know now I would _________.
If you are like me, many of those answers would begin with NOT. I would not watch that, go there, do that, date that person, take that job, etc… I have a lot of regrets, maybe you do too.
This morning we are going to hear from a man who I think probably had a lot of regrets. He was nearing the end of his life and looking back. There are some things he wished he had done differently, & if he could go back & tell his younger self a few things, this is what he would say.
Ecc 12:1–8, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”: 2While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain; 3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim; 4When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low. 5 Also they are afraid of height, and of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, and desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets. 6Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. 7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.”
Our subject is- how to live with no regrets. ILL: no ragrets tattoo. How can we live with no regrets?
1. REMEMBER your Creator. 12:1-8
Vs. 1- “difficult days” (or evil days; days of adversity/trouble) is talking about old age and death in a series of metaphors. Let’s take a fun little test. As you have gotten older have you found that...
- Hands shake, back stoops, lose teeth, eyesight fails; Your senses weaken-like your hearing; and you can’t sleep, because even though you can’t hear the slightest noise, e.g., bird, awakens you.
- Vs. 5- afraid of heights & afraid of terrors, almond tree blossoms (white hair), the grasshopper is a burden.
JFB: the dry, shriveled, old man, his backbone sticking out, knees projecting forward, arms backwards, head down, and apophyses enlarged is like that insect… a burden— namely, to himself. ILL: Getting old isn’t for wimps. These are my nighttime driving glasses…
Vs. 5- man goes to his eternal home (KJV- long home), i.e., death; the mourners go about the streets. Test isn’t so fun anymore is it?
Vs. 6- water symbolizes life, the broken vessels symbolize death (broken bowl, shattered pitcher, broken wheel)
Vs. 7- God formed man from the dust of the ground & breathed into him the breath of life; after death- dust returns to dust, the spirit returns to God.
Vs. 8- Vanity- breath or vapor, sense of meaningless, refers to the quality of having no value or significance, it is used to describe things that are hard to understand, frustrations, disappointments; interesting- the same word is used for idols- they are nothing at all.
Notice vanity of vanities- a superlative, a way to express the highest degree in a comparison, e.g., holy of holiesmeans nothing is holier; vanity of vanities means nothing is more vain, or more meaningless, or more empty…
What is the vanity of vanities? I won’t bury the lead. The reason he says to “remember your creator in the days of your youth” is because he learned that LIFE IS EMPTY WHEN YOU LEAVE GOD OUT OF IT.
2. Life is EMPTY when God isn’t in it. (Theme of the book)
Ecc 1:1-2, The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Ecc 1:2 & Ecc 12:8 is an inclusio- a literary device that creates a frame at the beginning and end of a section forming bookends or brackets. What is in the middle is the supporting evidence or explanation for the claim- all is vanity. Life is empty when God isn’t in it.
How did Solomon prove the claim? He lived it. He didn’t set out to prove that life was empty without God. He discovered it while pursuing other things. ILL: The best way I know how to illustrate it is this- I am pursuing a PhD in Theology. I have that when writing a dissertation you pick a topic to research, and you write about what you discover.
The Preacher (teacher, leader of the assembly) set out to study “everything under the sun”.” He discovered that everything is meaningless & chasing after the wind (NIV). Ecc 1:12–14, I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and searchout by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven… 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; & indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Remember God gave Solomon the gift of wisdom, & with it-riches, fame, & long life, like no king before or since. He ruled during the golden years of Israel’s peace & prosperity. Solomon didn’t have to fight any battles, win any wars, & the money flowed in. He built God’s Temple & then he got bored. Ecc 1:16–17, I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. He used the wisdom God gave him to chase the wind & chase it he did (9x)- 1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 4:6, 4:16; 6:9.
Before you think, that’s what I want to do- I want to chase everything. I want to pursue it all. I want to test all my limits, push all the boundaries. Understand Hosea 8:7, if you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. Solomon chased the wind and reaped the results of an empty life.
You’ve heard it said- experience is the best teacher; BUT EVALUATED EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER. You’ve also heard that you must learn from your mistakes; BUT YOU CAN ALSO LEARN FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES. That’s what we have here in Ecclesiastes.
This is Solomon’s account of his search for significance and evaluation of his own experience. We don’t have to try everything he tried to land where he landed. We don’t have to fill our life with regrets, we can learn from his life experience- Life is empty when God isn’t in it. So, pursue God & not the things of the world.
3. PURSUE God and not the world. Chapter 2.
Ch. 2 details Solomon’s pursuit of meaning- he tried everything, & he had the means & opportunity to do it.
- Vss. 2-3,He tried PLEASURE: alcohol & folly (partying)
- Vss. 4-6,He tried WORK: projects- houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, orchards, irrigation canals.
- Vss. 7-8,He tried POSSESSIONS: abundant servants, great herds of livestock, unimaginable wealth.
- Vs. 8- he used PEOPLE: paid a lot of singers & had a huge harem of women (party people & party girls)
Ecc 2:3 “I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly...”
Ecc. 2:9 “So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.”
Solomon used God’s gift of wisdom for nefarious purposes. i.e., it was a misappropriation of funds. God invested His gift of wisdom in Solomon, & the return on his investment was that Solomon got drunk, had a few laughs, completed a lot of projects, & retired to his harem of 700 wives & 300 mistresses. This is where you men might ask- well, how wise was he?
There is a shadow side to our strengths. When we use what God has given us for our own purposes & pleasures, our greatest strengths become our worst weaknesses. The dark side leads us down a very depressing path.
The best this world has to offer will not satisfy your deepest longings, only God can do that. Ecc 2:24–26, Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? 26For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. Do you want a life with no regrets? You must remember your Creator because life is empty when God isn’t in it. If you don’t fill the empty void with God, then you will fill it with the things of the world- pleasure, work, wealth, people… How can we make this switch?
4. Stand in AWE of God nowbecause you will stand BEFORE Him later.
Ecclesiastes gets a bad rep. People have accused it of being humanistic and pessimistic, and it’s true, Solomon’s topic is very naturalistic- “under the sun.” But there are pockets of power where Solomon looks beyond the sun & gives us a glimpse of God. ILL: Turn, Turn, Turn, by The Birds
Ch. 3:1-8- “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (1). Born-die; plant-pluck; kill-heal; break down-build up… 3:11, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Eternity is in God’s hands & He put it in man’s heart.
Ecclesiastes is perfect for contemporary American Christians- live in relative ease, needs are met, & most of our wants. Like Solomon, we have not denied ourselves anything. Church is mostly “come & go as we please.” Ecc 5:1-2, Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. 2Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few. We’ve made promises we aren’t keeping.
By the end of Chapter 7, there is the end of his experiment… ILL: if this were a dissertation, this is where he would synthesize the evidence-
Eccl 7:27–29, 27 “Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher, “Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason, 28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find… 29Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
Here’s the point: God made man (remember your Creator, 12:1) & man is accountable to God. Ecc 3:17 “I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” We are accountable to God & will have to give an account for every deed done in the body, both good & bad. Because that is true...
5. FEAR God & KEEP His Commandments. 12:13-14
This is the bottom line: Ecc 12:13-14, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all (or the whole duty of man). 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
Fear God- to reverence Him, to regard Him with feelings of respect & reverence, to be in AWE of Him
Keep: to observe, to conform one’s action or practice to His commandments; ILL: observe the speed limit means to do it, not watch it as you speed on by
Fear God and Do what He says because one day we will stand before Him. Joel 2:11 “The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?” There will come a day when we stand before God and give an account of our lives. Do you want that day to be filled with regret or filled with reward?
ILL: SOAR trip to the Gaylord, I drove the van- I fought the garage & the garage won
Remember when we started & I asked you to fill in the blank: If I knew then what I know now I would _________. If you could project yourself into the future & see yourself there & ask him/her “if you knew then what you know now” they would say- fear God…
The bottom line is that one day, there’s going to be an inspection of our lives, & when there is, are you going to have regrets?
From Ecclesiastes, it seems that Solomon lived with several regrets, but you don’t have to. He left out the Lord & discovered that life is empty when God isn’t it. So, we need to pursue God and not the world. We need to Stand in awe of Him now because you will stand before Him later. Fear God & keep His commandments.
All the commandments of God can be summed up in two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37-39). You cannot keep these commands of God if you do not have a relationship with God. You get that through repentance of sin and receiving Christ as Lord. Acts 17:30-31, … (God) now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
If you truly want to live a life of no regrets, it starts by giving your life to Jesus & then living your life for Jesus. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them.”