Better instructions for the young

Solomon starts to draw to a close about life under the sun and the vanities of vanities that life under the sun is. Knowing that, still life is to be enjoyed (Ecc11:8) and now he turns to give some sage advise to the young.

Solomon has searched for meaning of life under the sun and has drawn conclusion that it is all vanity (Ecc1:2)

Ecclesiastes 1:2 NASB95

2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

While we are enjoy life, there will be days of darkness (Ecc11:8) and we should anticipate them.

Ecclesiastes 11:8 NASB95

8 Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.

Even though there are days of darkness we should not live in despair, enjoy the blessings God has given us (Ecc3:12-13)

Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 NASB95

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; 13 moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Sage advise from his own experiences. He wants to give them some helpful tools while preparing them for life.

Rejoice in your youth

While many of us here are well beyond our youth, this is some good stuff for our children or grandchildren that we can pass on from the scripture. So don’t discount it (Ecc11:9-10)

Ecclesiastes 11:9–10 NASB95

9 Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?

Rejoice and be glad, it is nothing new he is stating (Ecc9:7-9) though now he is addressing the young.

Ecclesiastes 9:7–8 NASB95

7 Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. 8 Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 NASB95

9 Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.

Youth is a time of innocence a time when the worries of this world do not rule the day, the days of worry, anxiety, sorrow and grief are coming and they will be many so enjoy your youth now.

Rejoicing, be joy filled starts in the heart with an attitude of resolve.

He gives a positive admonition here, enjoy and walk in the ways of your heart (Ecc11:9; Pro4:23; Mt6:21)

the lightness of one’s heart will be displayed in the attitudes put forth, so we do need to be careful on what we allow into the heart.

Proverbs 4:23 NKJV

23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Matthew 6:21 NASB95

21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Positive admonition to walk in the ways of your eyes (Ecc11:9; 1Jn2:15-16; Heb12:1-2)

Gives it for the purpose of knowing God’s judgment is coming

Your eyes look where you are going, the direction you are heading. so in your youth be careful what you fix your eyes on.

1 John 2:15–16 NASB95

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Here is something good to fix your eyes on

Hebrews 12:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Fix our eyes on Jesus, fix your eyes on the race set before us.

And all this leads to the next point he brings out in (v.9)

Know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things (Ecc11:9; Ecc3:17).

Previously Koheleth has spoken of temporal judgments (Ecc3:17; Ecc12:14)

Ecclesiastes 3:17 NASB95

17 I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

And he will bring it in again in just a few verses forward too.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 NASB95

14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Here it seems he is speaking of final judgment, the time where our actions are tired, justice is done and retribution is administered.

Romans 2:5–6 NASB95

5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds:

Romans 2:6 NASB95

6 who will render to each person according to his deeds:

So, we are accountable, will be held accountable for all our deeds.

So, how is the youth to rejoice in their youth, to enjoy it, look at (v.10)

Tools for enjoying your youth

While addressing to the youth, these tools can be applicable for us to, can’t they? And a good reminder of what we need to pass on to the youth (Ecc11:10)

Ecclesiastes 11:10 NASB95

10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

Remove sorrow from your heart

Sorrow deprives or decreases joy oftentimes, so rejoice and be glad in the day the Lord gives, don’t sweat the small stuff and let sorrow get you, there will be plenty of time for that.

Don’t do things in your life that may bring you sorrow by your choices

Sorrow here also in the Hebrew is “fretfulness” and that is being discontent with existing circumstances. So, we need to replace those thoughts with God’s truth, the power of positive thinking is in thinking positive about the One who gave you all things.

Remove evil from your flesh (Ecc11:10; Pro1:10-19; Pro5:1-14)

Wrong choices bring wrong result, wrong people can lead to wrong destination. (Pr1:10-19; Pr5:1-14)

Here is a reminder of what we have looked at when we looked at Proverbs but well worth looking at again in our study tonight.

Proverbs 1:10–11 NASB95

10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

Proverbs 1:12–13 NASB95

12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil;

Proverbs 1:14–15 NASB95

14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,

Proverbs 1:16–17 NASB95

16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

Proverbs 1:18–19 NASB95

18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

Proverbs 1:20 NASB95

20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square;

and then you could look at Pro5:1-14 for more info, but here is some highlights from it:

Give heed to my teaching (Pro5:1, 7, 15)

Watch out for folly, the temptations of this life (Pro5:3-6; 8-14)

Youth is fleeting, time moves swiftly, so don’t waste time on things that bring grief and sorrow. Remember enjoy life, rejoice in life, make life wonderful and that leads to our next point.

Remember God in your youth

God is not for the old, God is for all, God needs to be made known, shared, believed and lived on by all. Don’t put off today what is needed today, God (Ecc12:1); hard times are coming, you need God now, so don’t forget Him now.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 NASB95

1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;

Remember God, remember who created you. Do you want joy, God is the joy giver

Young people, as well as us, need to remember our Creator and our purpose

Days are coming when this life will be difficult (Ecc12:2)

Ecclesiastes 12:2 NASB95

2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain;

Don’t wait until you get old, mature to serve, serve God now as exampled by (Joseph, Samuel, David, Josiah and Daniel)

Our youth need to be examples too, just as Timothy was (2Tim3:15; 1Tim4:12)

2 Timothy 3:15 NASB95

15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

and then

1 Timothy 4:12 NASB95

12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

Serving God helps to make right choices (Gen39:7-12) and also as exampled by Daniel who had great resolve (Dan1:8)

Look at a portion of Joseph a young godly man’s story.

Genesis 39:7–8 NASB95

7 It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.

Genesis 39:9–10 NASB95

9 “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” 10 As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.

Genesis 39:11–12 NASB95

11 Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. 12 She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

and then Daniel’s resolve

Daniel 1:8 ESV

8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

For age and death will catch up with you

Youth, grab it, enjoy it, live to the fullest now, for age and death will catch up with you (Ecc12:3-7).

Ecclesiastes 12:3–4 NASB95

3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; 4 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly.

Ecclesiastes 12:5–6 NASB95

5 Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. 6 Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;

Ecc12:

Ecclesiastes 12:7 NASB95

7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?

This is a pretty difficult section for there is much metaphor here, what we can see though from these verses.

The infirmities of old age (Ecc12:3-4)

There is a lot to see in these verses and as mentioned it is lots of metaphor, may you consider this as most commentators put forth.

Watchmen of the house tremble - our strength, our ability to defend, protect slip away from us as we age

Mighty men stoop - as our strength leaves we no longer have the ability to do what we used to do, times when we get new hips, new knees, etc.

Grinding ones stand idle - well we loose our teeth; or some think that it has to do with speech, we cannot speak the way we used to, some become unintelligible in speech.

Darkened windows - eyesight starts to fail

Doors shut in the streets - some believe this has to do with the hearing

Arise at the sound of the bird - sleep is not as sound as it was, anything, everything can wake us up, and we don’t sleep as much as we once did in our youth.

Daughters of music brought low - we lose, or can lose our ability to sing the way we did, since we cannot hear the way we did previously either.

The road to the grave (Ecc12:5)

THe road becomes more difficult as we slow down, lose our strength and even our breath that goes along with losing or graying hair.

Road oftentimes filled with fears, death, illness, etc.

Man will go to his eternal home while others will carry on, mourners in the streets for him, but death is inevitable.

You see the road from youth to old; from old to death, you see the progression that happens, so youth, enjoy life now, live it to the full for a man’s long home, eternal home is death. May we as mature youth remember this too, and make the most of each day, enjoy each day, embrace each day. for then there is the finality of death.

Ecclesiastes 12:5 NASB95

The finality of death (Ecc12:6)

Where the silver cord (our life) and the bowl (our body) show the preciousness of life it also shows that life is fragile, life can be easily broken, so watch, beware, but life, life to the fullest, enjoy for death is final.

Solomon’s view, the result of death (Ecc12:7)

Ecc

Ecclesiastes 12:7 NASB95

7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Watchmen of the house tremble - our strength, our ability to defend, protect slip away from us as we age

Mighty men stoop - as our strength leaves we no longer have the ability to do what we used to do, times when we get new hips, new knees, etc.

Grinding ones stand idle - well we loose our teeth; or some think that it has to do with speech, we cannot speak the way we used to, some become unintelligible in speech.

Darkened windows - eyesight starts to fail

Doors shut in the streets - some believe this has to do with the hearing

Arise at the sound of the bird - sleep is not as sound as it was, anything, everything can wake us up, and we don’t sleep as much as we once did in our youth.

ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we will return to where it all started and the spirit will return to God.

So the challenges before the youth is great, the temptations are many, the allurements of this world are enticing but avail nothing or little. Don’t get discouraged, enjoy life, life life to the fullest.

Life under the sun is not easy but life with the Son makes it worth living. so the simple tools for the youth and even for us

Rejoice in our youth

Remove sorrow and evil

Remember God in your youth

Reflect on the days ahead

(encouragement slide; Gal6:9 slide)

Listen to what Paul aid to the church at Galatia and certainly is applicable today.

(this is not on a slide Gal6:7-9 on purpose)

Galatians 6:7–9 NASB95

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

May we embrace these better instruction in the years of our youth or the maturity of our youth. For we know what awaits us.