Ecclesiastes 9-10

Radiant Church, August 18, 2019 Mike Rydman Ecclesiastes 9-10 Death can make everything in life meaningless Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. Solomon says here that life is slightly better than death. But, if there is no God, or no life after death, than everything in life is meaningless On the other hand, Abundant Life can make everything meaningful Ecclesiastes 9:7-8 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoying good food and drink is fun; enjoying a meal with others is great Clean up and dress like you enjoy God and His blessings, instead of complaining Or being the victim Ecclesiastes 9:9-10 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. whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. Enjoying and appreciating your spouse is not just a nice idea; it’s a command from God Jesus delivers from death and gives abundant, eternal life Jesus fed 5,000 and made wine for a wedding He came eating and drinking He came pursuing a bride…the Church He did the work the Father gave him to do And he overthrew the curse so we can live redeemed lives in conformity to his image – in a way returning us to Eden, a better Eden We might do great things, but later on no one will remember Ecclesiastes 9:11-17 Again I saw under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly fall upon them. I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Would we live differently if we didn’t really care about how other people valued us? But doing good things is better than doing foolish things Ecclesiastes 10:1-4 Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. Foolishness negatively affects the fool’s life, and affects those around him Life does not always go as planned. Except for death, nothing else is inevitable. We don’t always get what we think we deserve or what we’ve earned Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves. Don’t go looking for trouble, with words and actions – because life does not always go as planned Ecclesiastes 10:8-20 he who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones will be hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is not advantage to the charmer. The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter. We all get to choose our words and actions…but we never get to choose or control the results of our actions Wisdom helps to keep us from bad choices, and the results of our bad choices It’s madness, and it’s arrogance to think we control our future James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will g into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. So where is the gospel in all this? The gospel is good news – the good news that through the life and death of Jesus Christ, our lives, our eternity are not forced into an inevitable conclusion.