MAKING SENSE OF OUR DAYS LEFT UNDER THE SUN
I know I have shared this with you before but just in case you don’t know this about me, I am terrible with directions. Because I am this way, I love when someone gives me clear and simple directions to get from one place to another.
Well guess what? That’s exactly what Solomon gives us here in this last section of this wonderful book. Today we are ending our study of Ecclesiastes and if you will remember from last week Solomon ended the passage with this familiar phrase, “Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity.” As we have discussed already at length, under the sun—without God life is vanity.
The word vanity is the Hebrew word Hevel, which means meaningless, empty, futile and fleeting.” And you’ll remember Solomon begins this book with that phrase, “Vanity of Vanities,” but aren’t you glad he doesn’t end with it? Aren’t you glad this book doesn’t end with v. 8?
Today we are GOING to end this book by discussing vv. 9-14.
Though Solomon has been straight up with us so far that life is harsh, challenging, unfair, and meaningless, he does us a great service at the end of this book by ending with clear and simple instructions on how to live our lives for God under the sun. First Solomon says we need to...
GET WISDOM
Once again in this passage we return to the theme of the importance of wisdom. Solomon makes the point once again that wisdom is to be the preferred thing in our life. We are to value it over health, wealth, power and popularity. And God’s word is clear that we are not to just sit around and wait for it. We are to seek it out. Solomon says in Proverbs 4, “GET WISDOM…GET INSIGHT.” We are to seek it out and Ecclesiastes is a book written by a man who has done just that.
Though Solomon made a lot of mistakes in his life, Ecclesiastes is proof that his life was not in vain. He learned some valuable life lessons and in this book he imparts his wisdom to us. So it’s important that we seek to gain wisdom as well by looking to Solomon in this book and by studying other books from God’s word.
Not only is it important that we get wisdom from God’s Word, but we need to also look to others to help us grow in wisdom. Once again remember what Solomon says in Proverbs? He says to be wise, we have to walk with the wise. So we need to seek guidance from those who are displaying godly wisdom—those who honor God with the decisions they make and the lives they live.
There are people in this church who fit this description. All you have to do is look at their life and see it. If you are young in your faith, I want to encourage you to seek out those who are more spiritually mature than yourself for guidance.
In addition to getting wisdom, Solomon says that we are to…
EQUIP OTHERS
What good is having wisdom if we don’t share it with others? Solomon says this about himself,
9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
Solomon makes the point here that he’s not just wise for the sake of being wise. Look again at what he says in v. 9. He says,
9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge,
Here Solomon is humbly acknowledging that God had given him the gift of wisdom so that he could in turn pass that wisdom on to others. And boy does he ever do this in this book. The same is to be true of us. If you have biblical wisdom, you have a whole lot to offer people.
We are all to be growing in wisdom, but in turn we are also to be equipping others with the wisdom that we have. Now there are different degrees to this. You may just be teaching your spouse, or your children, or your grand-children—you might be leading a Bible Study or Small group or something bigger than that, but we are all called to make disciples. We are called at some level to teach and to impart wisdom to others so that the body of Christ—God’s people—the church would be built up.
That’s Paul’s point in Ephesians 4. So don’t tune me out here. This passage has relevance to you.
Solomon’s point in this passage of Scripture is that to honor God with your life—to live the life that God has called you to live, you need to be faithfully equipping others—you need to get wisdom and in turn share that wisdom with others so that this church can be more of what God wants it to be—so that this church can be built up.
Now some of you are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, where do I begin?” “How do I begin to grow in wisdom?” Once again, the best place to start is with God’s word. Notice what Solomon says at the end of v. 9.
He says, “I have weigh(ed) and stud(ed) and arrang(ed) many proverbs with great care."
Solomon as wise as he was, he didn’t just sit down and crank out three books of the Bible in a night. He didn’t just write Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and the Song of Solomon effortlessly in a short period of time. In v. 9 he shares a bit about this process of writing these biblical books. Solomon says, “I have weighed, and I have studied and I have arranged these books with great care.”
Solomon was a student of God and of His Word. Though he was the wisest person ever to live outside of the Lord Jesus, he worked hard and spent long hours—days, weeks, months and more carefully studying and arranging these texts of Scripture.
If this is true of Solomon, how much more so should this be true of us? How much more so should we be carefully studying God’s Word to get the wisdom needed to live a life that is honoring to Him?
In v. 10 Solomon says,
10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
Once again, Solomon did not seek to have godly wisdom just to be wise. He worked hard with his speech and crafted his words carefully to communicate truth in a way that’s easily understood.
That needs to be our goal as well. We need to study God’s word and look for good ways—creative ways to teach His word to others. It’s not about showing how much you know and how educated you are in the Scriptures. It’s about communicating truth in a way that is enjoyable, understandable and applicable.
In the second half of verse 10 notice Solomon also says that a good teacher speaks truth. He says,
The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
If you are going to honor God in teaching others, you cannot hold back and waver when it comes to difficult truths of the Bible.
Now I want to warn you that this message is going to anger some. Now you need to speak truth in a loving way, but at times this is unavoidable because many don’t like the message of the Bible. Is saying that Jesus is the only way going to be accepted by all your friends and family? Absolutely not. But let me ask you this, is it true? It absolutely is.
Will you speak the truth and take a stand for the truth regardless the consequences? One thing I love about Ecclesiastes is that Solomon speaks the truth--he holds nothing back. Some of you were overwhelmed by some of the depressing realities Solomon addressed about our life under the sun. There were some Sundays when I thought to myself, “This may not go over well.” But are his words true? Absolutely. Are we going to die someday, maybe today? Yes we are. Is it beneficial to live everyday with that day in mind? Yes it is.
After studying this book we have a much better understanding on how to live life because Solomon has helped us in the nasty here and now. He has helped us to know how to live a heavenly life in a hellish world.
He continues in v. 11 with this theme of why it is important to study and share God’s word with others by sharing some personal benefits to learning and applying the word of God. He says,
11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.
Once again Solomon is using metaphors here to share with us the reader the benefits of studying and sharing God’s word. He says that God’s word is like a goad. A goad is similar to a cattle prod. And what Solomon means by giving this metaphor here is that God’s word is like a cattle prod in that it motivates us—it gets our attention and gets us moving in life and living for God.
And let’s be honest, we all need the Bible to function in this way at times don’t we. Sometimes when running the race for God, we get sidetracked. Maybe at one time your walk was strong, but along the way you have slowed to a stop. God’s word functions as a goad or a cattle prod to motivate us to get back in there and get moving for God.
Solomon also says God’s word is also like nails firmly fixed. Now how are nails used? They hold things in place right? That’s what God’s word does. It’s not just used as a goad or a prod to get us motivated to move and live for God. His word is also used to provide stability and security. There are many people being blown about by the waves of this life and don’t know which way is up.
You ever been in that situation? When you truly feel as if you don’t have anywhere to turn and don’t feel as if there is any way out? You feel trapped? God’s word can function as nails that are firmly fixed giving us stability, security and confidence in a world filled instability, insecurity and uncertainty.
You know why we can have this kind of confidence that this book and others like it in the Bible can make this kind of impact? Look at the end of v. 11. The words of this book come from “ONE SHEPHERD.” Solomon is saying here that the words within this book are true and can bring about change in your life because they are God’s words. So we need to become students of it and equip others with it.
The third point is a continuation of this second point. Though there are a lot of ways to train people to live a life that honors God, we need to first…
MAKE THE BIBLE A PRIORITY
Solomon says,
12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
There are a whole lot of books out there aren’t there? I mean I have close to 1200books in my online library that I have access to. It’s unbelievable the amount of books out there on any and every topic you can think of.
Some of you I know are avid readers. You read article after article online, follow 5-10 blogs, read every best selling novel you can get your hands on. But the question you need to ask yourself is this, “What am I doing with the best-selling book of all time?” Last I checked over 6 billion copies of the Bible have been sold. That is over 5 billion more than the book in second place. But is it the most read—the most studied? I don’t think so.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love to read and there are some great books that I’ve read that have improved my reading of God’s word so please don’t hear me say that we should not read other books, especially those that help us grow in godliness. There is nothing wrong with books. What Solomon is saying is that it is wrong when we neglect The Book—God’s book—God’s Word because true biblical wisdom can only be found in the Scriptures.
You want to live the life God has called you to live? You want to not waste your life and make an impact for God under the sun? Let me tell you that it will not happen if you are not a student of God’s Word. Have you ever met a sold out servant of the Lord—a godly man or woman who was not a student of the Word of God? I haven’t. So in your quest for wisdom, make sure you put Scripture first.
Solomon closes this book with one last word of advice. And like the previous points it is plain and simple. He basically says if you want to live a life that honors God the rest of your days under the sun you must...
FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDS
Look at v. 13. Solomon says,
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Here Solomon gives us two imperatives, “Fear God and keep His commandments.” These are not options or suggestions, these are commands. Now let’s talk about the first command because we first have to get a handle on this before discussing the second.
What does it mean to “Fear God?” Though many don’t like talking about God as one to be feared, we cannot avoid this phrase “Fear God.” You know why? Because it’s all throughout the Bible. Many have defined fearing God as reverential awe—standing in awe—or in amazement of God for who He is and what He has done. Though that works in certain texts of Scripture, in this passage in Ecc. 12:9-12, the phrase “Fear God” is followed by verses about God’s Judgment. Solomon says in v. 14,
For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
So here Solomon is not as much calling for believers to acknowledge God as an awesome being as he is calling for us to acknowledge Him as a fearful being. Now we need to recognize both, but here Solomon is not calling for us to stand in awe of God as our Creator King, but is calling for us to fear HIM as our judge.
Jesus said we are to fear God because He is the only one who can destroy both body and soul in Hell. The Bible also tells us that our God is a consuming fire and that you don’t want to fall into His hands and that every single person that has lived or will ever live will stand before the Lord one day and be judged. And we are told this so we will fear Him—so that we will experience Holy terror.
Now though we don’t like to talk about fearing God, though we want to be happy and carefree in life, we have to emphasize what Scripture emphasizes and God’s word emphasizes being fearful of God as our judge. Many also fail to realize the benefit of fearing God. Remember when we talked about making sense of our dying day and about how though we often don’t like to think about death it’s extremely beneficial for us to think about because it affects the way we live in a good way? Same is true when it comes to fearing God.
Though we don’t like to think about God as a God of wrath and judgment, thinking about Him in this way affects the way we live in a good way, which is why it is emphasized hundreds of times throughout the Scripture and why it is emphasized here in Solomon’s closing remarks. Believers, you want to honor God with your life for the rest of your days under the sun, “FEAR GOD.”
Solomon follows with the second command “keep His commandments.” He knew we had to first have the fear of God down before we would be ready for the second. If you will fear God, really fear Him and fear sin and its consequences, this will help you better live for Him.
CONCLUSION
Let me end with this. I want you to notice that especially on this last part I have been speaking to believers here. “Believers, fear God” “Believers, keep His commands.” Because the truth of the matter is without Christ, coming to know God for who he truly is and fearing Him and living a life that honors Him is impossible. You want to live a life that honors God the rest of your days under the sun? You have to first be made right with Him through His son.
As Solomon says in v. 14, we are all going to stand before God one day and the question you need to ask yourself this morning is “Am I ready when that day comes?” Some will say, “Well, I’ve done the best that I can, surely that will be enough for God.” I can tell you this and don’t even have to pray about it—it won’t. God has made that much clear in His word.
Your good deeds are filthy rags to God. What you need is righteousness outside of yourself to be right with Him and the good news is that this has been provided by the Lord Jesus. Christ is our substitute. Through His life, death and resurrection he made a way to God for us, when there seemed to be no way. I want end this series in Ecclesiastes the way I began by telling you that the only way to live a life that is honoring to God the rest of your days under the SUN is by living your life in the SON.
